Great Escape: Wickford Village for Art Festival, Entertainment, Food and Water Views

Wickford Village in Rhode Island is such a fun little getaway. It has something for everyone including art galleries, book stores, clothings stores and waterfronting dining. This weekend Wickford Village will also host the 49^th annual July 9 to 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This event can be a girls' escape (up for a little window shopping, ladies?) a daytime or early evening date with your hubby, a family getaway or even a personal getaway. Whatever floats your boat. Actually, you could even get there by boat since it is on the water.

"The weather looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend," said Francie Christopherson, festival director. "We are very excited this year to have so many new and talented artists in this year’s festival. With a little over 200 unique and talented artists, this festival is a must see.”

Festival is 'Tops'

The Wickford Village website reports that the festival has been ranked one of the top fine art festivals in New England.

If you’re wondering what type of artwork you’ll see, the Wickford Art Association website indicates that the festival is "Devoted exclusively to original works of fine art painting & hand-pulled prints, photography, and three-dimensional,non-funtional sculpture.”

Artists come from around the world to present their work.

"Visitors coming into the festival will have an opportunity to win an original piece of art work if they would like to participate in our scholarship raffle," Christopherson said. "We have had 13 pieces of artwork donated by 11 generous artists to help with our scholarships that we give out every year. Approximately $94,000 has been given back to the community through our scholarships. This is something that  the Wickford Art Association is extremely proud of."

Food

You also might want to save some cash for some homemade food from local churches and civic groups. At the very least you’ll want to get some creative flavors of homemade ice cream from the local ice cream shop, The Inside Scoop. You may need a little help getting there though as it’s not obvious to find. It’s in a building with the words “Wickford Marketplace”. One side of the building , but there is a sandwich board sign with the ice cream store's name in front of the store. You can see pictures in this article for reference. 

Shop the Village

Love to window shop? There are many stores to enjoy. I especially like going to the book store “The Grateful Heart”. They always have some interesting books, jewelry and other unique items. There are 2 floors and it is obviously much more than a book store. There are also several art stores and many other stores in Wickford Village carrying items such as jewelry, clothing and unique house goods.

You can see the list of stores on the Wickford Village website.

Water Views

I don’t know about you, but I love any location where you can view the water. You can see a picture I took of my daughter looking over the water with some outdoor seating in view on the left. There's also another picture of a swan gliding through the water near more outdoor eating on the other side of Main street. Before or after enjoying the festival you can check out these places along the water for a bite to eat and a nice view.

Whether you enjoy seeing the art festival or browsing through the stores of Wickford Village, this is an wonderful event and location to enjoy alone or with family and friends. All this within less than an hour of driving, sounds like a great "daycation" to me.

Plan ahead

• Admission is free.
• Check out the Wickford Art Association website about the type of artwork to expect from artists around the world.
• Food and entertainment are part of the fun.
• Check out the festival maps of Main street and Brown street from the Wickford Art Association website.
• You may also want to check out the map of Wickford Village from the Wickford Village website.