It’s that time of year again. The weather is cooler, the humidity has dropped, and the days are just about perfect. That means it’s time for the annual Citrus County Festival of the Arts.
The 39th year of the Festival will again be staged around the Courthouse Square in Inverness the first full weekend of November.
Each year several thousand people attend the festival to enjoy the conviviality of a hometown event, as well as the wide-ranging and high-quality artwork and crafts of a hundred artisans. “This event is special for so many reasons,“ says Pati Smith, Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Inverness.
“One of the most important is the talented artists who offer very desirable products in a wide range of classifications that cannot be found in stores. Another very special aspect of the Festival is its friendly, welcoming atmosphere that only a small town can offer.”
Smith says Citrus County public school students as well as home-schooled students will also be participating in the Festival this year. “People are always impressed and often surprised at the quality of artwork that the students display,” she adds.
The Festival is sponsored by the Festival of the Arts Committee, the City of Inverness and the Citrus County Chronicle. It is held each year as a way to promote the arts as well as to raise money for scholarships for art students in Citrus County.
This year, three $1500 scholarships were awarded, one to Katelyn Bartley of Crystal River High School, one to Theodore Olson of Lecanto High School, and one to Tiffany Richards of Citrus High School.
One very popular fund-raiser of recent years is the commemorative Festival of the Arts pin. This year’s pin, which is made of pewter, features artists’ brushes wrapped in an artistic scroll.
The pin is the creation of Kelsey Pyers, a Lecanto High School senior, who won the Festival Committee’s competition to design the pin for this year’s Festival. The pins will be available for purchase at the Festival.
Another fundraiser for this year’s scholarship program, is a piece of display art made of stained glass in various shades of blue, reminiscent of the seas. This beautiful item was provided to the Festival of the Arts by Louise Whitney of Homosassa at a fraction of its actual value.
Tickets for a chance to win this piece of art will also be available at the festival, or they can be obtained by calling 352.382.2191 or 352.726.3913.
The Festival runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both Saturday, Nov. 6 and Sunday, Nov. 7.
There is no admission charge.