Westminster's annual Art in the Park event to showcase handcrafted work

The long-running Art in the Park festival will return to Westminster on Saturday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more than three decades, the annual event has been a place for artists and art lovers to come together. As well as the juried art show where visual artists will display their works, authors will give readings from their recents works and live musicians will perform throughout the day.

The event takes place at Westminster City Hall, 56 W. Main St.

Guests can take a break with various food vendors, including new addition ice cream. A free craft activity will be set up for kids.

Susan Williamson, visual arts coordinator with the Carroll County Arts Council, helped organize this year’s event, which is hosted through a partnership between the council and the city of Westminster and sponsored this year by Max Realty.

She said there has been an especially strong showing from mosaic and pottery artists this year as well as jewelry makers, painters, sculptors, collage artists, printmakers and a medley of other local creators .

“Everything is handmade by an artist,” she said of the items that will be for sale.

One goal she has is to educate on why handmade items may cost more than their mass-produced counterparts.

"Every piece of art that [the artists] come with is a labor of love," she said. “That’s one thing I try to get through — artists do put their blood, sweat and tears into the artwork. We don’t see the unfinished and ruined parts.”

Though the festival is ongoing for many years, new vendors often join.

Kerry Strand of Serendipia Sewing will be exhibiting for the first time this year. A retired college professor, she now put her time into sewing what she calls "simple handmade fabric things” for adults and children including aprons, wine bags, placemats and other items.

She has found Westminster to be very active in promoting lots of different arts and crafts, she said, and was drawn to the festival after hearing about it online.

She sells both online and in-person and says online sales can sometimes be “burdensome” and she enjoys many of the interractions that come with in-person vending.

“I love having people see things that I made that they really like,” she said. “Sometimes people buy things and email me and order more. … That’s really cool.”

The festival will be held rain or shine and is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to take advantage of free parking on Locust Street; in the East Middle School lot at Key Street; or in the parking lot and garage near Distillery Drive.

More information about the fetival is available at www.carrollcountyartscouncil.org.