Festival of the Arts Kicks off Summer in Grand Rapids

Festival of the Arts is this coming weekend in downtown Grand Rapids!

Now we know summer has officially arrived!

The celebration of arts, entertainment, kids' activities and food (oh, so much delicious food!) is June 6 to 8.

With so much to see and do, it can be helpful to plan ahead.

Here are the things you need to know about Festival of the Arts 2014.

How much does it cost to go to Festival?

Nothing! All performances and activities are free!

When and where is Festival?

Friday, June 7:  Noon - Last performances start at 9:15pm

Saturday, June 8:  10:00am - Last performances start at 9:15pm

Sunday, June 9:  10:00am - Last performances start at 5:30pm

Festival is in downtown Grand Rapids, running mainly along Ottawa Ave from Michigan Street to Monroe Center. Here is a printable map.

Performances

Over 300 performers will entertain continually at six outdoors stages and one indoor stage. There's jazz, country, big band, piano, rock, blue-grass, pop, hip-hop; all the different kinds of musical performances you can imagine! Plus: theater, dance, story-telling, and more! See the full list of performances here.

Food

What definitely makes Festival of the Arts unique is the variety of delicious food.  24 nonprofit arts organizations will be staffing food booths will tons of tasty dishes to try. There's caramel corn, meat pies, gyros, fresh lemonade, nachos, Keilbasa dogs, Baklava  egg rolls, and everything in between!  Here's the full list of food at Festival of the Arts. 

Kids Activities

Festival is all about having fun for the whole family. There are activities scheduled all weekend long to keep kids (and kids at heart) engaged, happy, and creatively making art! There's sidewalk chalk, face painting, even a whimsical hat making event! See all Festival of the Arts Activities here.

Art 

Art will be on display and available for purchase at the Art Sales Tents at Calder plaza. Plus,  the annual Festival Regional Art Exhibition is one of the largest in the area, featuring paintings, sculpture and other spectacular works of art at  Urban Institute for Contemporary Art on Fulton. And there's free admission at UICA during Festival! See other specific art events at Festival here. 

Festival of the Arts is always the first weekend in June-- a great way to start to summer in Grand Rapids! Looking forward to more festivals? Here's what's coming up soon!