After a blazing hot Saturday kept some people at home, the third-annual Washington Fine Arts Festival drew a crowd to Washington Park Sunday to see art from across the country.
The 130 artists at the festival displayed a wide variety of art from copper wire tree sculptures to jewelry, photography, painted shoes, wood fishing lures and more.
They were there to share their passion.
“People were using wood fishing lures for hundreds of years before plastic came along,” said John Wilkinson of Washington, whose booth showcased hand-made wood fishing lures. “These lures have a soul; they were once alive.”
He uses aromatic cedar wood from trees in Elmwood to craft the lures.
Fishing, he said, has been a lifelong passion of his and he feels “just like a kid again” being able to spend his time making the wood fishing lures since he retired two years ago. Now, he said, he spends about 70 hours a week making lures for the art shows.
Although this was his first time participating in the Washington Fine Arts Festival, he said he has attended the event in the past when it was on the square.
“The park is 1,000 times better than the square. I do a lot of shows, but I would not have done that even though it’s my own hometown,” Wilkinson said.
The move was necessary, said festival co-chairwoman Marilyn Gee, because of the increased number of artists from 49 the first year and 88 last year.
“Everyone loved the park, and I’m sure it was a lot cooler than downtown on the asphalt,” Gee said.
The open space of the park allowed Gee and other festival committee members to spread out the artists’ booths.
“We didn’t want the usual line, and I think the artists appreciated being farther apart from each other,” she said.
Although the space for the artists was nice, Gee said, next year, they may consider condensing the booths a little to cut down on walking distance for people looking at the art in the August heat.
Another change committee members are considering is bringing back the children’s art exhibit.
Before thinking too hard about next year’s event, Gee said she is still thinking about this year’s event.
“It was fantastic,” she said.
Wilkinson agreed.
“I was very impressed with how well it was planned and I will definitely be back next year.”
