Alley Art Festival an Overwhelming Success

The Alley Art Festival in Aurora draws artists from Oswego and throughout the Fox Valley area.

Now more than ever families look for free or inexpensive activities to fill their weekends. Up and down the Fox River, communities are rising to this challenge. This summer has had featured festivals, carnivals, outdoor movies, outdoor concerts, commemorative celebrations and block parties. Last weekend Aurora hosted its second art festival of the summer – the Alley Art Festival.

In its second year, the festival doubled in size, according to organizer Marissa Amoni.

“We had twice as many artists sign up as last year and easily a thousand people came," she said. "We had people from as far north as St. Charles and as far south as Oswego.”

The Alley Art Festival took place on the Water Street Mall in downtown Aurora. The one-block-long mall is located half a block west of Broadway and between Galena Boulevard and Downer Place.

In addition to the more than 40 artists and musicians, the festival featured food vendors, activities for children, yoga classes, hula-hoop instruction, live figure drawings and cartoons shown at the local theatre. The music, activities and throngs of people lent a street carnival atmosphere to the festival.

From the moment the fest opened to well past its 5 p.m. closing time, people strolled along the mall enjoying live music and soaking up the myriad of different art works and performers.

Rebecca Starling explained why she brought her rambunctious children downtown.

“Well, it's a glorious day to be outside and both of my kids love art. But more than that I think it's important for children to come to events like this," she said. "Everything's not a video game, amusement park or water-slide park. Here they get the chance to talk to the artists and learn about the creative process."

Jeanne Norris, who ran the kids activity booth, had her own measure of the Art Festival's success.

“We've been mobbed since before we opened," she said.

The artists themselves had as wonderful a time as the public. Oswego residents Veronica and Mike Mathews, proprietors of Lokki's Leathers, raved about the event.

“We've met lots of good people and seen lots of different styles of art,” Veronica said. When asked about her sales she explained, “When it comes to leather, people like custom work. So we're here to get our name out. We want people to know there's a different style of art out there.

"When people think art, they usually think paintings or drawings, but there's a lot more out there."

Naperville art teacher Chris Hodge believes the socializing and networking that inevitably happens at this type of event is as important as the sales.

“This king of thing brings life to downtown," Hodge said. "It brings the community together and lets people show their support for local artists. Plus there's a lot of activities for everyone to try."