The Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts will be held online this year due to safety concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19. Founded in 1977, the Fourth Street Festival usually attracts an estimated 40,000 visitors to Bloomington from around the Midwest each Labor Day Weekend.
This year, patrons will have the opportunity to browse festival booths on the organization’s website from September 5, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
The artist’s virtual “booths” are divided into nine categories: 2D, Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Jewelry, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, and Wood. Shoppers can browse each category, looking at photos of the artists’ work, and then navigate to the artists’ websites in order to purchase items. More than 90 vendors are participating in this year’s online event.
The website also features a photo tour of a previous year’s festival, a virtual children’s booth, recorded musical and spoken word performances, and a virtual community booth, which offers resources on 11 local arts organizations, including the African American Arts Institute, Artisan Alley, Cardinal Stage, and Women Writing for (a) Change.
For more information about the 2020 Fourth Street Festival or to shop, visit 4thstreet.org.
