Festival of the Arts returns

A once-popular independence day activity, Festival of the Arts, will be coming back to Saratoga this year on Independence Day weekend, allowing visitors to view and purchase art.

The event will be held at the Platte Valley Community Center (PVCC) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 2-3, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4. The show will include 35 pieces of juried art, and many other pieces that are not juried. Admission will be $5 per day, or a three day pass will be available for $10.

"We have not had a juried art show in Saratoga for quite some time," said Laura Morrow, owner of the Laura M Gallery in Saratoga, and an organizer of the art show. "We're going to have top notch artists this year, artists from all over."

There will be about 12 booths Morrow said, and in addition to the 35 juried pieces, there will be many other non-juried pieces, bringing the total number of artworks that will be at the show up to around 100, she said.

The media for the works of art will include bronze, marble and wood sculptures, pastels, oil paintings and photography as well as metal pieces.

There will not be any particular genre of art at this year's show, Morrow said. There will be western art, as well as a wide variety of other genres.

"It's got a nice flavor of a lot of things," Morrow said.

Artists will have booths where visitors can purchase pieces of non-juried art, and patrons will also be able to purchase juried pieces. The prices of the art ranges from around $350 to more than $20,000 Morrow said.

Saratoga did not have an art show last year on the July 4 holiday, but the town has a great tradition of having art shows, including award winning art shows. Organizers of the event hope that they will bring this tradition back to Saratoga, and that the festival will become an annual event.

Morrow said at previous shows held in town over the Independence Day holiday, attendance was usually around 500 people. This year, she'd like to see just as much support for the arts.

"I hope everybody comes and supports the whole fourth of July celebration," she said. "We have a great big fourth of July coming on."