WEST POINT — Labor Day weekend is fast approaching, which means once again, artists are about to flood the streets for the 45th annual Prairie Arts Festival this Saturday.
Lisa Klutts, director of community development for the West Point Growth Alliance, has been the volunteer festival coordinator since 2008. Under her direction, the festival has grown to include 200 vendors, including food trucks, a kid town, musical acts and more.
“It’s a surprise to some people because they think all there is to West Point is the highway,” Klutts said. “Even when they come down on a regular day and see the green space and the murals, it surprises them what we have downtown. But then to come to Prairie Arts Festival with 200 vendors, stuff for the whole family, music … I think somebody who came would be blown away by the magnitude of the festival downtown.”
The Prairie Arts Festival will be taking over downtown from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be set up between Main Street and Westbrook Street. A 5K run, which accompanies the festival, will start at 8 a.m.
Klutts said vendors come from all over the South, including Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Artists will be selling everything from pottery to hairbows to paintings to woodcrafts. The festival’s Juried Fine Arts Competition also runs the gambit of the arts, as artists compete to be Best in Show in painting, mixed media, photography, pottery, jewelry and more.
Since the festival’s inception in 1979, it has undergone many changes to focus more closely on fine arts and to expand the kids area to create a more family-friendly atmosphere. But one thing that has never changed about the festival, Klutts said, is its hometown feel.
“It’s our biggest event of the year with a small hometown feel,” Klutts said. “For a festival to be going that long, and people still look forward to it every year, even the next generation that is growing up with it — I’ve been told that it’s some people’s favorite holiday. And I love that.”
Klutts said she loves the festival for the artwork but also because many West Point natives use the festival as an opportunity for family and class reunions. These reunions add to the atmosphere, making the festival a kind of “homecoming.”
Scott McQueen, a Northport, Alabama, based folk artist, said he has been making the drive every year for the past five years to be a festival vendor. McQueen said he looks forward to the Prairie Arts Festival as the beginning of his fall season and as an opportunity to visit his hometown of Columbus on his way to and from the festival.
“It’s got a hometown feel to it, but it’s big enough,” McQueen said. “As an artist, you don’t want it to be a state fair kind of feel. I’m looking for art shows to apply to and be a part of, because it draws a particular crowd of folk. … And it’s kind of neat to go to one where people appreciate the arts but it’s also very neighborly.”
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