Third Annual Waveny Park Arts Festival Set for Sunday [Q&A]

The Third Annual Waveny Park Arts Festival will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Sunday, Sept. 28.

Organized by the Carriage Barn Arts Center, the family-friendly, rain-or-shine festival is free and features not only work from 50-plus artists and artisans, but also live music, food and entertainment. 

We put some questions to the Carriage Barn’s executive director, Hilary Wittmann, ahead of the event.

Here’s our exchange.

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New Canaanite: For those who were unable to attend the first two, tell us what visitors to the 3rd Annual Waveny Park Arts Festival can expect to find there?

Hilary Wittmann: This is a fun event that can be enjoyed by all generations. In addition to shopping and discovering incredible artists and artisans, there’s live music and entertainment all day, local food trucks, free arts and crafts activities and a young entrepreneurs marketplace where kids are showcasing their business ventures. The beautiful setting of Waveny Park is just the perfect place to enjoy all of this.

Also, we’ll start the day with a high-energy performance by the School of Rock followed by a preview by the CT Stage Company of their next show “In The Heights,” bluegrass trio The Parkway Ramblers, and end the day with New Canaan Town Brass quintet.

Everything takes place near the Carriage Barn Arts Center gallery and Powerhouse Theatre which will both be open to visitors all day as well. People are welcome to bring their kids and dogs, stay for lunch and take a walk on the trails after. 

What lessons, if any, have you taken away from the first two years that will factor into this year’s event?

The first year in 2023 was smaller and last year we doubled the amount of artist and artisan vendors to 50. Attendance is growing and this year we have about 60 vendors, so we’ve made some logistical changes to things like managing parking, directional signage and trash. We have a small but mighty staff, and are fortunate to have volunteers from New Canaan CERT and the Service League of Boys (SLOBs) on hand to help, as well as National Charity League volunteers running the craft activities. 

Social media has been huge in terms of promoting the event and introducing the vendors who are participating — follow the Carriage Barn Arts Center on Instagram and Facebook for updates.

Among the 50 artists and artisans who will be showing and selling their work, how many are New Canaan-based? How many of them are returning from prior years?

Several popular artists, photographers and jewelry designers are returning from past years (about half) and there are new artists and vendors with handmade knits and textiles, ceramics and stationery, screen prints and custom pet portraits. The majority of these artists and artisans are from New Canaan and the surrounding towns in our community. 

The same goes for the performers and food vendors — so this is a great way to support our creative community and for the Carriage Barn Arts Center to highlight what our organization is all about. 

What do you hear from the artists and artisans about the popularity and success of the Arts Festival from their point of view? 

These artists and artisans spend the majority of their time creating in their studios, so being part of the Arts Festival is a way for them to take their creations out into the world, talk to people about what they do and hopefully find new fans and customers. It’s a tremendous amount of work for them to prepare for and participate in something like this, so we hope everyone supports them and takes this opportunity to learn more about what they do! 

What else if anything would you like to tell our readers about Sunday’s Arts Festival?

Two things—check out the vendor directory on our website and come ready to shop and meet the artists and artisans. Producing this Arts Festival is just one of many ways the Carriage Barn Arts Center aims to connect people with the arts and celebrate creativity, so we hope people will discover and learn more about our organization and gallery too. Be sure to come into the Carriage Barn on Sunday to say hello and see our annual member show too, which is open through October 18.