ADRIAN — More than 60 artists of various kinds of media will fill up the streets of downtown Adrian this weekend as part of the annual Artalicious Fine Arts Festival.
Several artists from Adrian and other parts of Lenawee County, including Blissfield, Britton and Riga, are among those artists slated to showcase their work Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 16 and 17.
Artalicious for 2023 is celebrating 16 years as a staple event for not just Adrian but for much of the Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio region.
“We have a bit of a regional draw,” Artalicious Chairman Don Taylor said. “Our costs are very reasonable, and we (as organizers) go out of our way to make it a good and safe environment for everyone.”
More:Adrian City Commission honors Artalicious Fine Arts Fair and its chairman, Don Taylor
Artalicious features both established professionals and new artists, all of whom showcase a variety of artwork such as painting, jewelry, wood, glass, sculpture and pottery. Organizers have also added talented art students to the lineup of exhibitors.
The two-day event, sponsored by Visit Lenawee, the Michigan Arts & Culture Council and Endo Cannabis Centers, runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and continues from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
As people roam the streets of downtown Adrian this weekend, their Artalicious experience will be complemented by live musical performances.
Adrian High School’s band, orchestra and Lady Blues choir kick off the live music Saturday with an 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. performance on the South Main Street stage. That performance is followed by eight additional musical acts Saturday including the headlining show, the Journey tribute band Infinity & Beyond, which will perform live from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on the South Main Street stage. Infinity & Beyond, a Detroit-based group, is appearing at Artalicious thanks to a partnership with Adrian’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA)/Main Street committee.
On Sunday, there will be six live performances with the Unforgettables starting the day from noon to 12:30 p.m. They will perform again from 1 to 2 p.m.
The Adrian City Band closes out the weekend’s music lineup from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
“We have lots of main stage and greenspace performances within the footprint of the fair where people will perform right on the street,” Taylor said.
As a fine arts festival, Artalicious seeks to showcase all kinds of arts, whether that be through crafts, artwork, music, food or hands-on activities for people of all ages.
“To me, this is the best fine arts festival around,” Taylor said, who has been involved with Artalicious for 13 of its 16 years. “We (organizers) love all of the artists, but I love the community aspect of it. I have a love for the downtown, and anything we can do to bring life to the downtown makes me feel good.”
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There will be face painting booths throughout the festival area and My Adventure Theater, which conducts live shows much like at a theater, will be downtown both days.
PlaneWave Instruments has partnered once again with Artalicious to provide a telescope for people to check out, Taylor said. The second annual Lenawee County kindergarten through 12th grade digital art show, which is a continuous slideshow of submitted artwork from students, will be shown inside the Adrian District Library, 143 E. Maumee St., during the festival.
This year, nonprofit row on West Maumee Street is one of the largest that Artalicious has had with 19 area nonprofit organizations participating, Taylor said. Each nonprofit will have information about their causes and will have child-centric art experiences.