The 30th annual Tooele Arts Festival is nearly set to begin next weekend.
More than a dozen food vendors have signed up to attend the festival on June 17-19. Festival attendees will also have an opportunity to hear more than two dozen musical artists who will perform a variety of different music genres throughout the three-day festival.
Most of the musicians are from Tooele County, but two of the headlining bands, Drive and Endless Summer, are from Salt Lake City.
Sunday’s headliner is Marty Ahlstrom, a Tooele County native who has been playing music for nearly 50 years, according to the festival website.
A full performance schedule can be found on www.tooeleartsfestival.org. The official program guide for the arts festival will be published and circulated in the Tooele Transcript Bulletin next week.
“Most of the musical artists are local,” said festival director Kaye Beeny. “We try to do as many Tooele (County) artists as we can.”
In addition to music and food, the festival gives local visual artists an opportunity to show and sell their work. The submissions to Tooele City’s annual Plein Air Art Contest will also be on display and available for purchase.
The festival has also organized its annual children’s art yard.
This year’s theme for the art yard is “Air, Land and Sea,” and children up to 14 years old will be able to make a variety of different crafts, including boomerangs, gliders, “silly” stones, sand art and boats. The available craft is different each hour on each day, and families may want to check the craft schedule on www.tooeleartsfestival.org in advance.
The volunteer in charge of the art yard, Jan Kofford, has been running it with her daughter for about 15 years, Beeny said.
“She’s very familiar with it,” she said. “They always have a different theme. (And) if a kid comes on Friday afternoon to the art yard and then comes on Saturday, there will be something different to do. It’s just a fun way to mix it up.”
A clown will also attend the festival on Friday and Saturday, making balloon animals and figures, according to the festival website.
About 7,000 people on average have attended the festival in the past, Beeny said.
Everyone is welcome to attend, but people are requested to leave their pets at home, she said.
“We do allow properly marked service animals, but if they bring their pet, we’ll ask them to take them home,” Beeny said.
Now that the activities at the festival are organized and ready to go, all the event needs now are more volunteers to help things run smoothly, she said.
“We’re still looking for volunteers. For setup we need some, and during each day,” Beeny said.
Volunteers work in shifts. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Bob and Margie Driscoll at 435-843-0322.
The Tooele Arts Festival will take place at Tooele City Park, 200 W. Vine Street. Admission is free.
Some vendors are capable of accepting credit or debit cards, but there will also be an ATM onsite for anyone who may need it, Beeny said.