STARKVILLE — Art lovers will have to wait until April 2025 for the next Cotton District Arts Festival.
Earlier this month, the Starkville Area Arts Council announced on social media that the nonprofit will forgo its annual festival celebrating art and music in 2024, in order to return the festival to spring.
Starting in 2025, CDAF will be planned annually for the third Saturday in April.
SAAC Executive Director Mary Switzer said the arts festival was hosted in the spring until 2021, when concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the festival date to the fall.
But after hearing feedback about the fall festivals, both through conversations and surveys, Switzer said the organization’s Board of Directors and the CDAF Planning Committee made the “tough decision” to return it to spring.
“A lot of people let us know they enjoyed it more in the spring,” Switzer said. “We sent out surveys. We talked to people. We talked to vendors. And the majority of people said they preferred the festival in the spring.”
Committee chair Libbi Bryant Havelin also cited public feedback as the main reason for the festival moving “back where it started.”
“We all know how hectic fall schedules are, especially in a college town,” Havelin wrote to The Dispatch in a text message. “We felt the fact that we couldn’t have a set date in the fall really hampered not only our vendors’ success, but the overall success of the festival. Having the event in the fall is also very challenging for our already overburdened city services.”
Switzer said waiting until 2025 was based on logistics, as the CDAF relies on grants, sponsors and donations for funding and volunteers to plan and run the festival.
Last year, Switzer said, the festival included 100 vendors, not including food vendors, and more than 25,000 attended. The festival also includes three music stages, all of which feature different musical acts throughout the day.
“We just cannot handle it logistically,” Switzer said. “It takes us a year, basically, to plan the festival. And since we just had the festival in September, we don’t have enough time, we don’t have enough volunteers and we don’t have enough money for another festival.”
Switzer said she is sad the arts council is not going to be hosting the festival for a year, as she always looks forward to the excitement on the day-of.
But, waiting until 2025 will help the arts council to improve the festival based on feedback.
Already, Switzer said, she is looking at other arts festivals across the state, along with consulting past festival organizers to improve CDAF going forward.
SAAC Program Coordinator Juliette Reid said she is also looking forward to the festival being improved in 2025, as the postponement will give the SAAC the opportunity to “fix things we have been wanting to fix.”
“When we return, we hope to make it the best festival yet,” Reid told The Dispatch in a text message.
In lieu of holding the festival, Switzer said the arts council is planning to host a “music-type” outdoor event between now and the fall, to help remind people of the art still currently happening in the area.
SAAC will also continue to host artist markets and other events throughout the year to give artists other opportunities to show their work. Switzer said those with feedback or questions can reach out to [email protected].
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