Espanola Valley arts Festival
Espanola Valley Arts Festival, PO Box 862 Alcalde, NM 87511 (505) 753-2318 or (505) 753-3466, Email: info@evartsfestival.org

What is EVAF?

Tim Seaman Micacaeous Clay Bowl

Tim Seaman, Micaceous Clay bowl

What is EVAF?

Twenty-two years ago an enterprising group of Española businessmen, educators and community members dreamed of staging an arts and crafts festival for the purpose of creating a venue for the tri-cultural artists in the Valley who had heretofore been required to take their work out of the area to show and sell. Since that time, the fledgling Española Valley Arts Festival has grown into the single most important event of its kind in the valley, attracting a wide range of emerging as well as professional artists representing the three local cultures and the many art forms indigenous to these cultures. The festival boasts an extravaganza of musicians, entertainers, children’s entertainment, fresh local apples, apple products and local food venders as well.

Held on the first weekend of October each fall, the Española Valley Arts Festival draws a large crowd of local as well as out-of-town and out-of-state visitors to the area. It is held around the same time as the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque so take a day trip to the fabled Northern New Mexico area and enrich your stay at our festival!


Robert Enggist, stained glass

 

The Arts Festival Committee, entirely volunteer, works all year around to ensure the maximum amount of exposure for arts people participating in this event. One of our major advertising enterprises each year is the printing of an official Arts Festival Poster, the art for which has been selected from a wide range of entries from local artists in our annual poster contest. The theme for the poster this year is Chiles, and this year’s poster winner is Ted Salazar, and his winning work is an oil pastel rendering of a typical home in Velarde, NM. These collectible pieces are sold at the Information Booth at the Festival each year, plus at several local venues off-season such as the Mission Convento Gift Shop and Galeria Ortega, located on Riverside Drive.The posters are $15 or $60 framed and helps to support the festival each year.

This year’s Española Valley Arts Festival is scheduled for Saturday, October 6th from 9AM to 5PM and Sunday, October 7th from 11AM to 4PM. It is located on the Plaza de Española, at the intersection of Hwy 84-285 and Bond Street, which is also the site of Española’s two major museums (see directions/map). The judging of entries for prize ribbons and cash awards takes place before the event on Friday evening, October 5th, and will be open to the public free of charge from 6PM to 8PM for early shoppers’ and annual collectors’ convenience.

The Española Main Street Association will host their annual “Taste of the Enchanted Valley” event in conjunction with the Arts Festival. This takes place during the awards reception on Friday night from 6-9PM. Tickets to this event, which features samplings from all of the major restaurants, are available at the door.