Artist Penny Markley works on a painting August 2021 during the Winthrop Arts Festival in Winthrop. Attendees could get one of Markley’s works in exchange for a $50 donation to the Winthrop Food Pantry. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
WINTHROP — The 36th annual Winthrop Arts Festival, planned from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, will feature more than a dozen local artists and several community organizations along Main Street.
Several local musicians and bands, including the public library’s Bailey Ukulele Band, are scheduled to perform on the Union Street stage. Organizers expect between 200-400 visitors at the event sponsored by the Winthrop Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce and several local businesses.
Local artists planning to set up booths downtown include Tonya Patten of The Moon’s Cache, Ian Hanks of Maine Treasures Art Prints and Amy Durocher Photography. Art displays, according to a chamber press release, will include paintings, prints, photography, wood, metalwork and fabric arts. Linda Easterbrooks, the executive director of the chamber, said 18 local artists have signed up to have stalls.
This year the event coincides with the monthly Vintage Vault market at Freckle Salvage Co. on Main Street, which features two dozen vendors selling their products around a selected theme. This weekend’s theme for the market is “What I Did on Summer Vacation.”
The Bailey Public Library will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will have a booth alongside the artists. The Winthrop Rotary plans to sell hot dogs and window dressers downtown, and the Winthrop Fire Department is set to have a truck on display for children to explore.
Lisa Davis, the coordinator of the festival, said she has worked to adapt the event in recent years to changing tides in the arts community. Artists no longer need to sell their work at events, they simply sell online.
The festival also is competing with the Brunswick Outdoor Arts Festival and the Great Falls Balloon Festival in Lewiston for vendors and visitors, which Davis said complicates the planning process.
She said the festival has shifted in recent years toward a more community-focused event. With the public library, fire department, historical society and other organizations participating, the event is now aimed at helping visitors see the “depth of what goes on in this community.”
“You get a lot of people just milling about, and it becomes more of a community, like, ‘I haven’t seen you in a long time, how are you doing?’” Davis said. “You get to see a lot of people in the community because they come out to see the artwork and see each other. So that becomes the real draw for me, is the community part.”
