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About 80 vendors and non-profits will sell and craft like mad in Freimann Square today and Sunday as part of the Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival’s Art in the Park.
There are fewer vendors this year, says Waneta Kiefer, the event coordinator for Art in the Park and other festival events. Last year saw about 100 vendors and non-profits.
The major reason for the decrease, she says, is that the event is sharing its location with the Fort Wayne Museum Art’s Chalk Walk because there’s so much construction going on around the mu- seum.
The museum asked the festival whether it could share its space, so the block along Standard Federal Plaza will now be used for the Chalk Walk.
Despite the state of the economy, Kiefer doesn’t believe it played much of a role in the number of artists.
“Art in the Park has been a favorite with these artists for a long time,” Kiefer says. “They enjoy the atmosphere that we provide for them.”
The museum’s Chalk Walk is a long-standing art event itself. This will be the 10th year the museum hosts the event, which turns the streets into a huge canvas for artists.
The event runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
One participant missing this year will be Arts United. The group spent three years as part of the Three Rivers Festival, said Jim Sparrow, Arts United executive director. But this year it’s opting for its own program, Taste of the Arts, which starts Aug. 29.
Compared with Arts United’s involvement with Art in the Park, Taste of the Arts will be a similar event, with performance stages and food vendors.
“It was great visibility (to be involved with Art in the Park), but a lot of the arts community had been asking for years for something closer to the beginning of the (fall) season, a signature event to kick off the various performances and activities,” Sparrow says.
“We’re also trying to provide a fundraising opportunity for some new initiatives.”
Art in the Park will feature faces both old and new. One of the old: Carl DeGraff of Elizabeth. He has visited with his clay and ceramics for 22 years, Kiefer said.
New this year will be Japanese drumming. Fort Wayne Taiko will perform at 1 p.m. today.
Police and security estimate that Art in the Park will see about 10,000 to 15,000 people today, Kiefer says, many of whom will be coming from the parade in the morning.
