Various forms of art will be featured Saturday in Brownstown and Ewing.
Brownstown/Ewing Main Street’s annual Artsfest will include activities around the Jackson County Courthouse square and in and around W.R. Ewing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“There’s going to be tremendous variety. We’re having something for everybody,” said Brian McIntosh, a Brownstown/Ewing Main Street board member.
Nearly 20 vendors will be set up around the courthouse square. That will include jewelry makers, professional photographers, people who sell antiques and those who do chainsaw work, woodworking and metal work.
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An antique tractor and farm machinery show will be on one side of the square, and Southern Indiana Center for the Arts is conducting an art class at 1 p.m. at Deck’d Out Photography. Anyone interested in participating in the class must preregister and prepay by Thursday by calling 812-522-2278.
Food also will be available from TJ’s Barbecue, and the Jackson County History Center will be selling porkburgers and have its campus open for tours. Downtown businesses will be open that day, too.
On the Heritage Park stage, Nutshell, a multi-genre cover band from Evansville, will perform from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The highlight will be Brownstown Central High School’s choir joining the band to perform “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Joe Cocker, which is Brownstown/Ewing Main Street’s theme song for the restoration of the Ewing Depot.
“That seems to be a movement that a lot of festivals are trying to incorporate, so we want to be the first around to do that,” McIntosh said. “I was just glad the school got to be involved to be a part of that.”
At W.R. Ewing, the number of vendors tripled from last year to this year, as nearly 70 artisans and craftspeople will participate. McIntosh said several of them are from southern and central Indiana, and some are from out of state.
The vendors will have art for sale, and some will be doing live art, McIntosh said. Joe Reynolds also will be performing acoustic music throughout the day, and there will be a silent auction.
Outside, an artist and pin striper will be set up under a circus tent, and a car show will be along West Spring Street.
Also, the Ewing Depot will be open for people to check out the restoration work, which is nearly complete, and Blake’s Place will be selling food.
Streets around three sides of the square in Brownstown and West Spring Street from Ewing Street to Depot Street in Ewing will be closed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
This will be the fourth Artsfest. The first one was conducted in 2013, and the second one was the next year, but the 2015 event was rained out. Then last year, rain forced all of the events to be moved to Ewing.
McIntosh said he encourages people of all ages to check out this year’s Artsfest, and the board continues to work to grow the event.
“It draws a lot of artists, vendors and craftspeople to our county and to our area,” he said. “It’s going to be a considerably large event, but we’re still building it.”
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What: Brownstown/Ewing Main Street Artsfest
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Around the Jackson County Courthouse square in Brownstown and in and around W.R. Ewing
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