YAF
2023 Youth Arts Festival September 16th, 9am-3pm
We're back! Our annual celebration of art, music, green energy & community fun for the entire family!
Each year we host dozens of organizations and regional artists who come to share their knowledge and the love of the arts. Last year we had over 1000 visitors!
You and your family can enjoy:
• Demonstrations in glass, metal, ceramics, paint, printmaking, etc.
• Activities in weaving, hand-building with clay, wheel thrown clay
• Music performances by local groups
• Food available for purchase
• Restrooms
• Water bottle filling station
This event is FREE and open to the public. No pets please. Service animals are welcome.
Come watch demonstrations of glassblowing, blacksmithing, pottery, printing, torchworking and raku kiln firing. We'll have live entertainment, good food and fun!
The metal forges and the glass furnaces used by the artists use renewable landfill gas from a near-by closed landfill to power them. All the artists at the festival will enjoy helping children to create their own works of art.
One of the highlights of the one-day festival is the Green Energy Park 'Trash Dragon,' a gargantuan costume created and built by local artists totally out of trash. Timm Muth, Director of the Green Energy Park, said, "it's fun and educational when children can see something beautiful being created out of stuff that people throw away."
The Youth Arts Festival is a cooperative effort between Jackson County's Green Energy Park and the following partners:
• Western Carolina University
• Southwestern Community
College
• Jackson County
• The Bascom
• Andy Shaw Ford
• Town of Dillsboro
• Top Cats
The Green Energy Park is located off Haywood Road one-half mile past the Huddle House in Dillsboro. There is no festival parking on site.
Satellite parking only with free shuttle to and from the Park: Monteith Park and Jackson County Justice Center. If the shuttle is not there when you park, please wait about 10 to 15 minutes for it to make its trip back to that lot.
