More than 30,000 expected for Iowa Arts Festival

The Iowa Arts Festival kicked off Friday, providing visitors a full weekend of art, live music performances and even a parade.

The festival, which originated in 1983 after some downtown Iowa City businesses collaborated to find a fun, free way to kick off the start of summer, has been a staple for arts and entertainment in the area.

Lisa Barnes, executive director of the Summer of the Arts, the umbrella organization pulling together the event, said about 30,000 people are expected to filter through the festival over the weekend.

The Iowa City Carnaval Parade started at 5:30 p.m. with dozens of people dressed in bright costumes marching through downtown.

Barnes said the parade originated several years back after Loyce Arthur, an associate professor of design at the University of Iowa, wanted to provide an opportunity to people to celebrate their life experiences and culture.

The arts festival also will feature 125 artist booths, 15 food vendors and 13 live music acts, including performances from Iowa City folk singer Dave Moore and Colorado folk music group Elephant Revival.

Kevin Hanick, a volunteer for the Iowa Arts Festival, has helped select the live performances for the main stage for nearly 30 years. Hanick said the committee involved in selecting the live performances tends to select more family-oriented genres such as bluegrass, folk rock, acoustic and singer/songwriter.

While Hanick's responsibility is to supervise the bands going on and offstage throughout the weekend, he said in addition to the live music at the festival, he also enjoys the regional and ethnic food offered on culinary row.

'We get really great crowds,” Hanick said of previous performances. 'It's pretty awesome. ... In the past, we've had as many as 10,000 in streets down there.”

The festival will continue today and Sunday in downtown Iowa City. Parking is available in the Capitol and Dubuque street ramps, Tower Place and the Court Street Transportation Center.

'The nice thing about the Iowa Arts Fest is it's a combination of so many different art forms, and so it's an opportunity for people to experience art through a variety of different ways and different methods,” Barnes said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8531; alexandra.connor@thegazette.com