Arts Festival - Pensacola Forida, USA

If you are anywhere near the Pensacola, Florida area on the first weekend in November, the Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival is definitely worth a visit. This year the weather is perfect, sunny and not too hot (some years it has actually been too cold!) and the Festival features a wide variety of arts, performers, food, and more.



We visited the Festival on Friday morning and afternoon. In the main stage area, people sat in the chairs provided or along the edge of the central fountain, enjoying cajun specialty meats, tasty baked pastry treats, grilled greek foods, fresh lemonade, and other treats as they listened to the guitar stylings of Dominic Gaudious, the unique "delta bluegrass" sound of Delta Reign, and piano master Bobby Van Deusen. A number of other acts of various types are scheduled over the weekend, with two additional stages for performances on Saturday and Sunday.


Over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) the Children's area will also be open with lots of fun hands-on crafts for kids including string painting, sand art, fish prints, clay sculpting, origami, and much more. Face painting and balloon artists add to the fun, as well as a special stage in the children's area featuring groups of children and teens from area schools and studios as well as cultural performers.


Over 200 artists will be displaying their works, competing for $25,000 in prizes over a variety of categories including mixed media, photography, ceramics, glass/jewelry, watercolors, drawing, fiber/wood/leather, sculpture, and more. The festival consistently ranks among the top fine art and fine craft shows.


Heritage arts is another must-see area at this festival. Craftspeople and artisans from around the country demonstrate skills such as blacksmithing, spinning, weaving, woodcarving, engraving, basket-making, and many more. And for a locals hint ... stop in one of the stores along the street for a cool drink much cheaper than those at the festival, sit down and relax at a game of checkers, browse the bit of Americana available, and enjoy a clean, spacious, well-appointed restroom visit without the lines at the less-than-desirable port-o-let option in the main festival area.

If you miss the festival this year, make plans to attend next year. The Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival is a yearly event held early in November each year. See you there!