By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
In a major change the Black Swamp Arts Festival has decided to begin the event’s juried art show on Friday evening. The festival is scheduled to open on Friday Sept. 11 and continue through Sept. 13, and for the first time festival goers will be able to view and purchase art from the beginning.
Other aspects of the festival including the Wood County Invitational show will continue as usual on Saturday and Sunday.
In a decision made Several weeks ago, the festival committee agreed to move the start time for the art show to 5 p.m. on Friday evening in line with the Main Stage music that begins at 5 p.m.
The juried art show will continue until 8 p.m. on the opening night.
The change was prompted by reports from local hotel staff and other business proprietors who said visitors told them that they expected the art show would be held on Friday, said Jamie Sands, who chairs the festival committee.
For years, artists have been asking for the change. The artist surveys they submit at the end of the festival frequently included comments from some exhibitors requesting Friday set up.
The change also means city crews and festival volunteers are not needed before dawn on the Saturday of the festival. “I do believe overtime was a concern fo the city,” Sands said. “I hope this will work well for the city and the city workers.”
Sands said: “From the origin of the festival, they wanted it to be a three-day festival. It’s a lot of work for the volunteers.”
But the city’s interest in moving it led the committee to consider the change.
“Firefly Nights has paved the way for that,” she said.
The monthly summer fair series that started two years ago, inspired in part by the Black Swamp Arts Festival, demonstrated that having Main Street closed on a Friday night was feasible.
The key, Sands said, is to have the street open until or just after 9 a.m. Friday to allow school buses and the morning rush to get through.
In terms of the logistics of the set up, Sands said the visual arts committee is “assessing all the options to determine the safest and most efficient way for artists to set up.”
The new schedule will mean recruiting more volunteers for daytime Friday.
Dozens of volunteers, dubbed the Dawn Patrol, were needed in the past to transform Main Street into the art fair on Saturday. Now much of that work will need to be completed during the day.
“Hopefully,” Sands said, “we’ll have people with us.”
