ELLSWORTH — Celebrations will begin Friday, Sept. 30 at the fifth annual Art of Ellsworth: Maine Craft Weekend being held in conjunction with Maine Crafts Association statewide celebration of craft and American Craft Week. Ellsworth will once again be at the forefront as a Featured City and will be promoted as a destination for cultural activities in Downeast Maine.
Through collaboration with downtown cultural partners (artists, eateries, organizations and shop owners) live music, demonstrations, talks and sales will take place throughout the weekend, starting on Friday, Sept. 30 through Sunday, Oct. 2.
SPOTLIGHT EXPERIENCE: This year Art of Ellsworth coincides with the painting of the Water Street Mural in downtown Ellsworth! The public is encouraged to stop by on their weekend wanderings and watch the progress in action. On Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m., children will be invited for a fun painting project at the mural site and muralist Judy Taylor will give an artist talk Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Both mural activities are open to the public at no charge and are weather dependent with no rain date.
Event times, details and full calendar of events are listed on the Heart of Ellsworth’s dedicated page on the Maine Craft Weekend website: https://mainecraftweekend.org/2022-ellsworth/ For more information, please email [email protected].
Started in 2017, Art of Ellsworth: Maine Craft Weekend is an event celebrating the creative community in Ellsworth. Participants include galleries, artists, retail shops, eateries, breweries and non-profits in the urban core who offer studio tours, sales, artist demonstrations and live music. The event was created by Heart of Ellsworth, a 501c3 championing downtown Ellsworth through programs, events, and community engagement.
This project was born in 2019 by a group of seven community members, including local artists, business owners, and Heart of Ellsworth board members. The group formed a committee that has been meeting for nearly three years to develop the project. One committee member generously donated a 3,000 square foot exterior wall of their downtown business as the site for the future mural. The location is the site of Ellsworth’s first settlement along the Union River and today anchors a bustling intersection that is passed by an average of 10,000 people daily according to Maine DOT.
