Headwaters Arts Fall Festival in full swing this weekend

September 29, 2022 · 0 Comments

By Zachary Roman

Caledon residents are invited to enjoy the arts and beauty of fall this weekend.

The 26th Headwaters Arts Juried Fall Festival Show & Sale finishes on October 2, with ticketed events this Friday and Sunday rounding out the festival, which began on September 14.

On September 30, from 7.30 to 10.00 p.m, The Campfire Poets will perform at the Alton Mill Arts Centre.

The Poets are from Dufferin Country and play music from all kinds of different genres to get crowds dancing, including rock, pop, blues, reggae, country, and Celtic. There will be refreshments and a bar at the show, and tickets for it can be purchased for $30 at headwatersarts.org.

On October 2, from 2 to 5 p.m., Orangeville independent bookshop BookLore will host “A Bookish Afternoon” at the Arts Centre. Readings from — and discussions with — authors Eva Stachniak, Steve Burrows and Bianca Marais will be accompanied by wine and light refreshments.

Tickets for the bookish afternoon are $35 and can also be purchased at headwatersarts.org. Stachniak will read from her book House of Mirrors, a historical fiction about Versailles. Marais will feature her novel The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, and Burrows will showcase his murder mystery A Foreboding of Petrels.

Susan Powell, Chair of Headwaters Arts’ marketing and communications committee, said the festival has been a success so far.

For the festival’s opening night, around 120 people were in attendance to take in all the art on display and find out which pieces received awards from the jurors. Powell said often people attend the festival twice in a year, once to view all the art and then a second time to purchase some and support the artists.

Over 50 artists of many disciplines have their work on display at the Alton Mill Arts Centre for the festival, and each piece of art on display was selected by a juror.

“What jurors do is they will go through all the submissions by artists who have entered… together to review and select the work,” said Powell. “At that point, they also make a decision on jurors first prize, second prize, third prize, and then they do an honourable mention as well.”

Winners receive cash prizes, and Powell said this always creates a buzz for the festival’s opening night when prizes are awarded.

She said artists often bring out family and friends for the big day.

A few days after the festival’s opening, a juror’s walk was held, where artists and festival attendees alike could follow the jurors around as they explained their decision making.

Also part of the 2022 Fall Festival was an arts market which coincided with Alton’s bicentennial celebration on September 17.