Wickford Art Festival Returns for 53rd Year This Weekend

One of the best and most-anticipated art festivals in the country, the Wickford Art Festival, is this weekend.

More than 200 artists from across the country will have their works on display and for sale in historic Wickford village, bringing color and culture to a community that exudes much the same.

Wickford Art Festival hours 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Admission is free and the festival is rain or shine, though the forecast looks to be just about perfect.

The festival is also handicap accessible and family friendly and draws up to 50,000 art lovers from throughout New England over the weekend.

Artists will be traveling from as far away as Arizona and Canada. Artist mediums include oil, acrylic, drawing, sculpture in metal, clay, wood and glass, pastel, mixed media, ink and photography in original, one of a kind or limited, signed and numbered editions. Fine art is sales tax exempt in Rhode Island.

Raffle tickets are available now for the Raffle of Fine Art, which is drawn on Sunday afternoon (July 12). Prizes include fine art donated by WAA member artists and festival artists. Proceeds of the raffle benefit the WAA Scholarship Fund which awards $5,000 in scholarships to three artistic RI public high school seniors attending a college. Two 2015 Scholarship Fund winners will be exhibiting their art in the festival.

Event sponsor Centreville Bank will be giving away freshly popped popcorn in Updike Park and business sponsor Gooseneck Vineyards will be hosting wine tastings on Saturday and Sunday 12 - 4 pm at Wickford Package Store, 41 West Main Street.

Parking with optional donation is available at Wilson Park, Wickford Elementary School and Wickford Middle School within walking distance or take a short free shuttle ride into the festival. Parking is free on limited streets just outside of the village.

Wickford Harbor marinas offer transient docking within a 5 minute walk of Wickford Village.

Located in North Kingstown, RI, Wickford is 25 minutes south of Providence, 20 minutes from Newport and a 1 hour drive from CT and MA.

Visit www.wickfordart.org or call 401-294-6840 for more information.