Seth Johnson
UPDATE (Friday, Nov. 5, 3 p.m.)
The City of Gainesville announced Friday afternoon that it would postpone the Downtown Festival & Art Show scheduled to begin Saturday at 10 a.m. Instead, the event will run on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In the announcement, Gainesville said inclement weather caused the postponement, canceling the first day of the festival. The Gainesville Downtown Blues Concert will still happen Friday night at Bo Diddley Plaza at 7 p.m.
The Arts & Craft Fair at Tioga Town Center canceled its event scheduled for Friday as well and will hold the fair in the near future.
The McIntosh 1890s Festival is still planning to open Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. despite the weather. The festival posted on Facebook that it would not cancel, rain or shine.
————-
Floridians can browse hundreds of vendors this weekend at three different festivals being held in Gainesville, Newberry and McIntosh.
The Arts & Craft Fair, organized by the Watson Realty Corp., will run from 2 to 6 p.m., Friday, at The Tioga Town Center off Newberry Road.
Diana Child, administrative assistant at Watson, said the event is designed to get people out and back to the town center.
In-person shoppers declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the town center wants people to return and visit its various stores.
The festival itself will have 20 vendors selling bath and body works, jewelry, quilts, wood-burned decoration and drawings.
Part of the event will be held inside the Watson Corp Realty office where they will have raffles and the evening will end from 7 to 10 p.m. with a “Concert Under the Stars” by Elio Piedra.
Check out Tioga Town Center’s Facebook page for more details.
After going virtual last year, the McIntosh 1890s Festival returns to the streets of McIntosh at 8 a.m. Saturday with more than 270 vendors.
The Victorian-themed festival began in 1974 by the Friends of McIntosh organization, who report an estimated 35,000 annual visitors.
The organization uses the proceeds of the festival to reinvest in the town, including a local scholarship fund, a front porch to the community center and the purchase of the Old Carriage House.
Vendors will sell plants, arts, antiques and crafts until the event ends at 4 p.m. while live entertainment plays throughout the event.
You can find more information at the festival’s page.
Bo Diddley Plaza will serve as the epicenter of the 40th annual Downtown Gainesville Festival & Art Show that will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
The event will spill over onto the adjacent streets and feature various mediums of art for visitors to enjoy, from acrylics to photography, the culinary arts and live music.
An imagination station will provide hands-on activities for kids, and the main plaza stage, along with a separate acoustical stage, will feature different musicians every hour, including the Lost Safari Drummers, Bridget Kelly Band, Santa Fe Brass and One Eyed Cat.
Festival artists will enter into competitive and non-competitive categories and set up their works in booths. The city reports 190 artists this year, mostly Gainesville or Florida natives, but also visitors from Indiana, Massachusetts and other states.
You can find maps of the event along with photos of artists’ work at the festival website.