Hockaday Museum of Art holds 48th annual Arts in the Park Festival

The Hockaday Museum of Art presents the 48th annual Arts in the Park Festival, to be held Friday through Sunday, July 15 through 17, in downtown Kalispell’s Depot Park at Main and Center streets.

Kalispell’s premier arts festival is the Hockaday’s primary annual fundraiser and features more than 110 juried local and visiting artists and craftsmen. Daily admission to the festival is $3 and children age 6 and younger are admitted free with their family. A $5 Weekend Pass button gives the bearer unlimited admission to the festival all three days, as well as unlimited admission to the Hockaday Museum of Art during the festival. All admission proceeds support the Hockaday in its mission and programs.

Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Live musical entertainment begins at 11 a.m. each day with a variety of performers taking the stage for an hour each.

A premium wine and beer garden, hosted by Glacier Sun Winery and Kalispell Brewing Co., will open at 11 a.m. each day, and offer an array of fine local wines and brews.

The lineup of food choices this year includes Amazing Crepes, Island Noodles, Glacier Shave Ice, Carl’s Corn Dogs, Sweet Pickins Kettle Corn, Indah Sushi, Porteus BBQ, Sweet Peaks Ice Cream, Kawai’s Grill, Diggity Dogs, Sweet Traditions, and the Glacier Skate Academy with their famous fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Children’s activities will include a climbing wall and bungee jumpers, and there will be two face-painting artists in the park.

The art experience doesn’t end in Depot Park, since the Weekend Pass button also includes unlimited admission to the Hockaday Museum of Art during the festival. The Hockaday’s current exhibitions include the “Montana Painter’s Alliance Exhibition” and works created at the end of June in the museum’s outdoor painting event “Plein Air Glacier 2016.” Museum visitors may also enjoy the “Crown of the Continent” permanent exhibition featuring the art and artists of Montana and Glacier National Park. Four fully restored murals are on display in the museum, rescued from the East Glacier Lodge that was updated in the 1950s.

Arts in the Park is sponsored by the Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell Toyota, Park Side Credit Union, and Kalispell Parks and Recreation.

The Hockaday Museum of Art is located in the cultural district of downtown Kalispell at 302 Second Ave. E. It is housed in a 1904 Carnegie Library building that appears on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum is a private nonprofit organization, open year-round, Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The mission of the Hockaday is to enrich the cultural life of the community and region, and preserve the artistic legacy of Montana and Glacier National Park.

For more information, visit www.HockadayMuseum.org or call 406-755-5268.