The annual Alley Art Festival returns to downtown Aurora for its 15th year on Saturday, Aug. 30.
The free festival, which will feature nearly 100 local artists, will run from noon to 5 p.m. at Water Street Mall and also Downer Place between Stolp Avenue and Water Street in Aurora.
The artists taking part will be displaying locally-made art, jewelry, pottery, handmade goods and more – items that organizers said had to be made within a 30-mile radius of Aurora.
Event director Marissa Amoni, who launched the festival well over a decade ago and continues to manage it through her own public relations event management company, said it remains “true to its roots” in terms of showcasing local artists, adding that participation since its inception “has more than doubled.”
“We took one year off in 2015 but we did have this all through COVID,” Amoni said. “This has always had the goal of bringing local artists together and celebrating community and we’ve really tried to stay very true to that intention. We have grown the festival to allow more artists but that’s such a great sign that our local artists’ community has grown over the past decade-plus.”
The first festival, Amoni said, included just under 50 artists. The show is not juried “but we are specific to local artists,” Amoni said, noting again the 30-mile distance rule.
Amoni said that “painting, photography and ceramics would be offered as well as live performance art.”
“We have dance troupes belly dancing and we have live music. In terms of art, we do require that everything is hand-made,” she said.
A local artist named Laura Lynne, who does mixed-media and is a mural painter and operates a business in Aurora, will be hosting a children’s area, Amoni said.
“We’ll also have facepainting and new this year, we have the RPG Club joining us who are a game club and they’ll be setting up so people can play certain games there,” she said. “We always have a children-friendly area and we’ll have food trucks as well.”
Food vendors throughout the afternoon will include Strawberries BBQ, Tamales Plus, The Lovely Lemon, Snow Ballin Sisters, Polly Ann Cakes and Kool Kat Ice Cream, according to organizers.
Amoni said that applications for artists opened in the spring and closed in June.
The event usually draws about 5,000 to 6,000 people and is aided by opening as the nearby farmers market closes, organizers said.
A press release about the event said that a handful of nonprofit partners will also be part of the festival including the Aurora Film Society, Aurora Regional Fire Museum, City of Lights Film Festival, Mutual Ground and APS Training Academy.
Local band Hot Dog Stand will perform at noon, and Lund Surk will perform at 3 p.m. at Mundy Park. Dianella Dance, Magnolia Dance Collective and Thalia Dance will perform belly dance at the festival at 2 p.m.
For more information about the fest, go to alleyartaurora.com.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.