Fourth Street Festival to add arts and crafts to Labor Day Weekend

Jun 30, 2023

A collage made from samples of artwork by vendors at the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts in 2022. This year, the festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m Sunday.

Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts will celebrate Labor Day weekend with around 120 artisans. The 47th annual festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday on Fourth Street, between Indiana Avenue and Grant Street.

A wide variety of art will be available including ceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry, painting, photography, sculpture and wood.

In addition to the artwork, local artists will present musical and spoken word performances on stage. There will be local businesses and non-profit arts groups with booths, along with a children's booth hosted by The Lotus Education and Arts Foundation.

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Past booths hosted by community members have featured local music organizations such as Girls Rock Bloomington, Bloomington Chamber Singers, Bloomington Community Band and Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. Bloomington Photography Club, Writer’s Guild and Bloomington Creative Glass Center have also made appearances at previous festivals.

Saturday’s musical guests include Bloomington Community Band, Bloomington Peace Choir, Curtis Cantwell Jackson, Radical Moderates, O2R Band and Carla Carey. On Sunday, Bloomington Swing Time Band, Bloomington Community Jazz Orchestra, Moon Buggy and Helber Sisters with Tom Harlan will take the stage.

This festival is a non-profit organization founded by and for local artists in 1977. Two potters, Carolyn Mullet and Marcia Cmack, spoke after attending a crafts marketing conference and decided to put together an event to showcase local craftspeople and artists. Later that year, 55 exhibitors showed up. Now, the event is an annual staple for the Bloomington arts scene.

For more information on parking and vendor details, visit the Fourth Street Festival’s website.