The event that drew over 20,000 people last year to the Potomac West area of Alexandria, is back. The ninth annual Art on the Avenue Festival will take place Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m The festival is hosted by the nonprofit Friends of Art on the Avenue, and is free to the public.
Held each fall on Mount Vernon Avenue between Bellefonte and Uhler avenues in the Del Ray neighborhood of the xity, this annual multi-cultural street festival celebrates the diversity of the Potomac West community.
Arts and crafts demonstrations, food, free music and special activities for children are part of the day's program. Art on the Avenue features three musical stages that this year will feature such artists as Timothy Bracken, Michelle Swan, the Irish Breakfast Band, and the Alexandria Choral Society Children's Chorus, among others.
Sponsors of this year's event include the Potomac West Business Association, Crescent Resources, LLC, Virginia Commerce Bank, Mayor of Alexandria, Bill Euille, Jack Taylor's Alexandria Toyota, Burke & Herbert Bank and Trust, and the Evening Star/Daily Planet.
NEARLY 200 local artists will be displaying and selling their wares on the Avenue. Among them are such exhibitors as dual illustrators Becky Heavner and Bryan Leister, who use watercolors to show one picture from two different perspectives and Alice Kale, whose watercolors of various local Alexandria sights were featured in the Potomac West Business Association 2003 calendar.
"Art on the Avenue is a great day to bring deserved attention to the many talented local artists in the area," said Pat Miller, chair of the event.
Additionally, "Art on the Fence" will make its debut at this year's festival, giving area children the opportunity to display and sell their own artwork Other children's activities scheduled include face painting, scarecrow making, pumpkin decorating, and art-on-a-tote bag.
For more information, contact Jennifer Lanzino at 703-683-4815, ext. 206, or by email at jlanzino@waterfordpr.com. Or, visit the Art on the Avenue website at www.artontheavenue.org.