Dean Souleles shows off his photography during the Great Falls Art Fest on the Green last weekend. Photo by Steve Hibbard.
The Great Falls Art Fest on the Green was a great success last weekend, June 3-5, with a constant flow of several thousand people walking and browsing through the Great Falls Village Green despite the unpredictable rainy weather. About 20 artists in booths under tents joined with three indoor artist's studios -- Artists on the Green, The Artists' Loft, and Artists' Atelier -- to show off their artwork in oil, acrylics, watercolors, mixed media paintings, pottery, photographs, jewelry, blown glass and fabric art.
"We're very happy to see so many people come," said photographer Jim Diedrich of Great Falls. "We enjoy being a part of the community and it's a desire to see Great Falls become a center for the arts."
"It was a very festive, community-oriented environment," said artist Begona Morton. "We are doing the job of what a Town Hall would do, together with other organizations; we appreciate the other organizations who helped collaborate with us. It's a community effort."
"It was a wonderful community event where people could wander in the tents and studios and talk to the artists and purchase art that they liked," said Julie Casso, executive director of The Arts of Great Falls. "It's just a fun way to spend the weekend; it was pretty steady, despite the weather, which was pretty threatening all weekend."
The event was co-sponsored by the Great Falls Studios, Celebrate Great Falls and The Arts of Great Falls.
The Concert on the Green, scheduled for Sunday at 6 p.m., was canceled due to the weather. The next Great Falls Art Fest studio tour will be on Oct. 14-16, 2016.