By Barbara Arnstein
The incredible, fun-filled, admission-free Allentown Art Festival, in downtown Buffalo, will be taking place this next weekend, June 8-9, 2024. For the 67th year, Delaware Avenue and streets near it, will fill up with booths full of wonderful and imaginative photos, jewelry, paintings, hard & soft creative crafts, glass, acrylic, ceramic and mixed media items. Forty new artists will be on hand, and there will be a total of three hundred and fifty! Musicians will perform, there will be free kids’ activities, including face-painting, balloon-making and drumming, and demonstrations, including glass-blowing. “It’s the first really big event to kick off the summer”, said Rita Harrington-Lippman, President of the Allentown Art Festival. “It’s now more interactive. Grace Turner, the drum artist, will be there from 11am-2pm on Saturday, and following her, from 2-4pm, kids can learn how to play string instruments from Buffalo String”. Behind the Festival is a non-profit organization which contributes thousands of dollars to public school programs every year. There are up to 50,000 visitors each day.
For those interested in buying art or crafts, the festival offers a rare opportunity to talk with the creators of the items they buy about how they create them. Ask award-winning, popular photographer David Lawrence Reade about how he photographed scenic spots in Western New York and other places and he’ll tell you about the exciting adventures behind his photos. (To see his photos, check out his Facebook posts or go to davidlawrencereade.com) David Maynard’s booth offers photos of European scenery, including flower-covered cottages and decorative doorways. Gabriela and Rodrigo Diaz offers unique, surreal items combining plants with pants. They stuff and attach jeans and shoes made for babies and very young children, and fasten the tops of the pants around containers for plants. The festival also offers carved wood items, metal garden sculptures, mobiles, abstract and nature paintings and prints, and much more.
This year’s First Prize winner of the poster design contest is Karen Kutoloski. Her beautiful drawing of a girl with long hair adorned with poppies, holding brushes and snuggling up to a buffalo, will be available on various items.
how he photographed scenic spots in Western New York and other places
and he’ll tell you about the exciting adventures behind his photos. (To see
his photos, check out his Facebook posts or go to davidlawrencereade.
com) Photo/Barbara Arnstein
They stuff and attach jeans and shoes made for babies and very young children,
and fasten the tops of the pants around containers for plants. The festival also
offers carved wood items, metal garden sculptures, mobiles, abstract and nature
paintings and prints, and much more. Photo/BarbaraA rnstein
The official hours are from 11am-6pm on both days, but many serious buyers arrive at 10am. Food trucks will be offering Caribbean specialties, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, tacos and more. There will be plenty of parking around the area.
For more information, go to AllentownArtFestival.com or call (716) 768-2000. The Allen West Festival takes place nearby the same weekend, and at the same time as the Allentown Art Festival. It also offers many interesting items and foods, and it is the largest fundraiser for the Allentown Association. For more information about it, call (716) 881-1024.
Photos by Barbara Arnstein