Art in the Park 2017 moves to Saturday, June 17
LANESBORO, MN – Art in the Park, Lanesboro Arts’ annual fine art festival in Sylvan Park, is happening on Saturday, June 17 this year. This marks the first time the popular summer event will not be taking place on Father’s Day, a Sunday, since its inaugural year in 1980. After several years of surveys and deliberation, Lanesboro Arts made the decision last fall to permanently change the event date to the Saturday immediately prior to Father’s Day in order better accommodate and serve attendees, artists and volunteers.
“Having the event on a family holiday did make it a bit more challenging to find volunteers without pre-existing family commitments,” shared Adam Wiltgen, Program Director at Lanesboro Arts. “We found through surveying the artists that Saturday would generally work better for most of them too. Our goal was to attract more artists and artists whose work is of a high quality,” Wiltgen elaborated. “So far, this is the most applications we’ve received since 2007 and it is only the end of April. Sixty-five percent of those are artists who are new to Lanesboro and Art in the Park.”
The organization also determined that holding the event on the Saturday of Father’s Day weekend may be a better fit for attendance as well, allowing potential attendees from both near and far an extra day for travel or time with dad. “Surveys also indicated a potential for increased sales for the artists if the event was not on a family holiday,” added Wiltgen. “Our hope would be that a Saturday date might give some folks incentive to visit the area earlier or stick around longer.”
For more information on this summer’s Art in the Park in Lanesboro on Saturday, June 17, visit www.LanesboroArts.org.