Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival

It’s that time again! Get ready for the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, which is always a highlight of the picture-postcard city’s spring calendar and typically draws roughly 250,000 to Central Park in the Downtown Historic District.

Activities preceding the annual festival—which will run Friday, March 20, through Sunday, March 22—include the much-anticipated unveiling of the event’s official poster art. The image chosen to embody this year’s 67th edition is simpler than some past choices, but no less striking and bursting with civic pride.

As rendered by Israeli-born, Orlando-based pastel artist Orit Reuben, it’s a view of the canal that connects lakes Osceola and Maitland and flows under the picturesque bridge along Palmer Avenue. (Anybody who has ever taken the Scenic Boat Tour along the Winter Park Chain of Lakes will recognize the location.)

The poster’s golden hues should lend a calming element to the traditional hustle and bustle of the festival, which will feature booths that display the works of 221 artists from 34 states and one from Ontario, Canada. That lineup will include three emerging artists (two from Central Florida and one from Atlanta).

According to Alice Moulton, the festival foundation’s president, more than 1,100 applications were received this year—with the winners selected by a jury of three art professionals from across the country (among them Thomas Brewer, a University of Central Florida professor of art emeritus now based in Urbana, Illinois).

One reason that so many artists compete for booth space is that the festival remains one of the most profitable for artists anywhere in the U.S., offering $76,500 in cash prizes—including a Best of Show purchase award for $12,000.

In addition to the always-teeming maze of booths and food vendors, the festival will, as always, include a Children’s Workshop Village where there’ll be easel painting for youngsters and other interactive art activities presented by upwards of 10 area museums and arts groups.

And then there’s the ever-popular Leon Theodore Schools Exhibit, a juried showcase of works by more than 90 local elementary, middle and high schoolers from Orange County. The student display is across the railroad tracks in Central Park’s West Meadow.

But wait, there’s more—in addition to the art, many locals look forward to the traditional Friday-night jazz concert on the main stage in North Central Park. The headliner was being selected at press time, as was the lineup of other musical performers who’ll take the stage throughout the festival.

Sure, it’s a lot to take in, and it represents the work of not just the artists but also of a 40-person, all-volunteer board of directors and numerous community volunteers. The entire extravaganza is undertaken in close partnership with the City of Winter Park.

Central Park is located along Park Avenue in Winter Park. For more information, call or visit the website.