Family Fun: The outdoors offers two festivals for art lovers – Manito Park Art Festival and Coeur d’Alene’s Art on the Green
North Idaho’s 53rd Annual Art on the Green offers a marketplace featuring more than 115 artists, food choices, children’s activities and a juried art show.
The three-day festival attracts artists of all specialties. “We will have oil, acrylic and watercolor painters and artists making pottery, carving wood or designing jewelry,” said Diane Soloman, president of the nonprofit Citizens’ Council for the Arts.
Soloman expects artists from “all over the West Coast.” These artists will not only be selling their work but will also compete in the annual juried art show. Soloman estimates 250-350 artists apply to a booth every year. Artist names and locations are listed on Art on the Green’s website.
Although not everyone has the artistic ability to work a booth, Art on the Green will host Spokane’s Raku potter Jeff Harris to share some of his wisdom in wheel working and painting techniques. Join Harris’ class in booth no. 19 at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Art on the Green’s food options include German sausages and roast beef sandwiches, a past favorite. Soloman is excited to offer veggie burgers for the first time this year. Blackfire Kettle Corn and the Wellness Bar will cater as independent food trucks.
Desserts include ice cream pints, bars and sandwiches. Entertainment kicks off Friday with a blessing from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and northwest bands will follow throughout the day. The sextet Jazz Professors will close the festival on Sunday.
If you go: Friday-Sunday, Citizens Council for the Arts, North Idaho College, 495 N. College Drive, Coeur d’Alene. For more information, visit artonthegreencda.com.
Friends of Manito Art Festival
Manito Park’s Duncan Gardens are picturesque in spring. The beautifully manicured turf with marigolds, sunflowers and dozens of other bedded plants is an ideal location for an art festival, hence the birth of the First Annual Friends of Manito Art Festival.
“This is the first art festival in Manito Park, and we are excited to see it grow each year as it becomes an annual event,” said Kelly Brown, president of the Friends of Manito.
“Manito Park is so central to our community. It’s where family and friends gather and memories are made. It just feels natural for an art festival to take place in a setting so beautiful.”
Ben and Jerry’s, Island Style Food Truck, Tea’s Co., Surge Coffee Co. and Fetch Barkery will serve the event as attendees observe local art. The festival allows local artists to display their first festival pieces and gain clientele.
One notable artist includes the multitalented Karli Ingersoll. Ingersoll owns Lucky You Lounge and is responsible for many recognizable logos and works of art across Spokane. Colville native singer-songwriter Kyle Richard will headline the event, with other artists performing throughout the day.
If you go: The green east of Duncan Gardens in Manito Park, 1702 S. Grand Blvd. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit thefriendsofmanito.org.
Sophia McFarland is a high school summer intern. She begins her junior year at Gonzaga Prep in the fall.