The Sun Valley Center for the Arts & Crafts Festival began as a small gathering of artists in 1968 when life and times were much different. Forty years later the festival has become on of the top 100 outdoor juried festivals in the nation and sees over 10,000 people in attendance.
The show will be held Friday, Aug. 8, through Sunday, Aug. 10, and will feature 130 artists from around the nation as well as Ketchum and Hailey artists Christopher Brown, Debbie Edgers Sturges, Melissa Brown, Karen McCall, Michele Black and Terrance Deemer, Jennifer Bellinger, Kary Kjesbo and Barbara Kline.
"As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are particularly appreciative of the local, regional and national artists who have shown their work with us year after year," said Sun Valley Center for the Arts executive director Sam Gappmayer.
This year the festival will feature 130 booths with a variety of handmade fine arts and crafts such as glasswork, jewelry, paintings, toys and many more unique and fascinating creations. From decorative arts to functional art, the array of items is expansive, ranging in price from affordable to luxury.
"The Festival is a free event for residents and visitors of all ages that fulfills our mission of serving the entire community with arts education, performing arts events and visual arts exhibitions," said festival director Kathryn McNeal. "Ongoing artist demonstrations, kids' activities and musical entertainment make the Festival fun for the whole family."
The show will feature a kids activity area from 11 to 2 p.m. with a different project each day led by a guest artist. Kids will make kites with Jeff Blais on Friday as well as puppets with Brian Piccolo of Piccolo Puppets of San Francisco on Saturday. Piccolo will perform on Saturday, Aug. 9, at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 10, at 2:30 p.m. Joni Cashman will lead the sun hat project on Sunday. Each day of the festival there will be an informal coloring project.
In addition there will be artist demonstrations each day of the show. Susan Ward of Boulder Mountain Clayworks in Ketchum will demonstrate ceramics on Friday, Aug. 8, and Jack Burgess will demonstrate woodworking on Friday, Aug. 8. Deb Gelet will demonstrate fiber art on Sunday, Aug. 10.
As the musical headliner for the entire show, a concert at 6:30 p.m. Friday, August 8 will feature the John Jorgenson Quintet. Among the world's most versatile and accomplished guitarists, Jorgenson is one of the foremost interpreters of gypsy jazz as created by Django Rhinehart. In 2005 the Quintet headlined the Django Rhinehardt Memorial Festival in France.
He was also a founding member of the Desert Rose Band and three-time honoree as the Academy of Country Music's "Guitarist of the Year."
The festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, and Saturday, Aug 9, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. Bring the kids, a picnic, but no dogs or glass containers. Atkinson Park is located in west Ketchum at the corner of Eighth Street and Second Avenue. Parking is available at the Hemingway Elementary School lot. Overflow parking is available at the Simplot lot, which is the future home of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, across from the post office.
For details, call 726-9491 or visit sunvalleycenter.org
Festival music
Friday, Aug. 8
Noon--1 p.m. Cow Says Moo
1:30--2:30 p.m. Chip Booth/ Peter Boice, Acoustic Folk
3--4 p.m. Strings Attached, Bluegrass
4:30--5:30 p.m. Bruce Innes Trio, Acoustic Folk
6:30--8:15 p.m. John Jorgenson Quintet, Americana/Jazz
Saturday, Aug. 9
11 am--noon Aaron Baker, Pop
12:30--1:30 p.m. Chicken Dinner Road, Bluegrass
2--3 p.m. Paul Tillotson Trio, Jazz
3:30--4 p.m. Piccolo Puppets, Puppet Show
4:30--5:30 p.m. Juju Revolution, Reggae/World
Sunday, Aug. 10
11:30 am--12:30 p.m. The B-3 Side, Jazz
1--2 p.m. Four Stroke Bus, Acoustic Folk & Blues
2:30--3 p.m. Piccolo Puppets, Puppet Show
3:30--4:30 p.m. Kim Stocking Band, Country/Folk
The Sun Valley Center Arts & Crafts Festival at Atkinson Park in Ketchum celebrates 40 years.
