Dual festivals showcase arts, crafts

For more than a decade, the Boulder City Art Guild has welcomed the cold weather with its annual Winter ArtFest, but this year the festivities will expand out of the Boulder City Parks and Recreation Department’s gym all the way to Bicentennial Park with the addition of the Winter Arts Spectacular, a new event benefiting The Homestead at Boulder City.

The Winter ArtFest will feature more than 35 vendors offering fine art and handmade crafts, including jewelry, Native American pottery and woven goods.

“This year marks our 40th anniversary, so we are trying to make it something special,” guild show director Diana Meyer said. “We’ll serve cake and refreshments to celebrate at noon (both days) and, in addition to our amazing artists and vendors, we’ll have a book signing by local author Brenda Ewers, who writes children’s books, as well as illustrator Mike Derby.”

There will also be a raffle in conjunction by the events, with tickets available at both festivals and prizes donated by artists and sponsors.

The Winter Art Spectacular was organized by The Homestead, with the help of the Artisan Crafts Festival in Las Vegas, and though the event is in its first year, it will expand the weekend’s festivities to a new level.

In addition to more than 63 arts and craft vendors at Bicentennial Park, attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of food trucks and a Cadillac car show put on by the LaSalle Cadillac Club, which promises to fill Wilbur Square Park with one car from each model year Cadillac has been in production.

After 17 years in Boulder City, The Homestead was looking to put together an event that would raise money for its seniors’ activities, as well as raise its profile in the community and, according to facility director Michael Fox, the arts festival was the perfect opportunity.

“The owner of the Artisan Crafts Festival in Las Vegas has been a supporter of ours for a long time and we wanted to do something in conjunction with the guild here, who we love,” Fox said. “They’ve been extremely supportive and we hope our event can help to bring even more people to theirs as well. We’d really love to see this grow into a major annual festival to kick off the holiday season.”

Both festivals will be Saturday and Sunday, with the guild’s festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the spectacular from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Contact reporter Hunter Terry at hterry@bouldercityreview.com or call 702-586-6711. Follow him on Twitter @HunterBCReview