Annual Arts in the Park festival this weekend at Depot Park
Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 26 minutes AGO
Visitors check out the oil and acrylic urban contemporary pieces of artist Oriana Gerez, owner of Gerez Gallery in Miami, Florida, at the Glacier Art Museum's 55th annual Arts in the Park festival in Depot Park in Kalispell on Friday, July 18. Kalispell's longest-running arts and music festival features a lineup of 80 juried artist booths, plein air painters, live music, food trucks and a beer and wine garden. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
The Glacier Art Museum (formerly Hockaday Museum of Art) presents the 56th annual Arts in the Park, the longest-running arts and music festival in Northwest Montana.
A favorite community event held in historic downtown Depot Park, Kalispell’s premier arts festival features 80 juried local and visiting artist booths, live music performances, food trucks, a beer and wine garden, children’s activities and live plein air (outdoor) painters painting on site.
The event also features community booths invited by the museum to present art and nature activities for families, and includes: Girls on the Run, Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming, Mountain Brook Homestead, and Montana Open AIR Residency Program. Plein Air Painters of the Flathead, a Glacier Art Museum members group, will have artists painting live and onsite throughout the three-day festival. Additional kids activities will be at the Glacier Art Museum Booth, plus face painting by Kathleen Francis of Fancy Face Designs.
Live music begins at 11 a.m. each day with over 15 musicians and bands from around the valley including: Glacier Symphony Brass Quintet, Way Down North, Kenny James Miller Band, An Daire Dance Academy, Hemlock and Honey, Flathead Sings, and more. A premium wine and beer garden opens at 11 a.m. daily with hand-poured selected local craft brews by Patriotic American Brewery and select wines provided by Watkins Distributing.
Ten food trucks will be onsite, including Carl’s Corn Dogs, Glacier Shave Ice, Los Pinguinos, KJ’s Chicken Chariot and Island Noodles.
Admission to the three-day festival is $10 for an unlimited pass button, or $5 for daily admission. Children age 12 and under receive free admission. Festival hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday.
Unlimited Pass Buttons can be purchased in advance at the museum. Unlimited and day passes are purchased at the gates. All ticket holders also receive free admission to the museum during the festival and the following week. Dogs on leashes are also welcome.
Volunteers are vital to the success of this fundraising event. All volunteers get unlimited passes to the event and are entered into an opportunity drawing. Sign up at glacierartmuseum.org/park or email [email protected] or call 406-755-5258.