Festival of the Arts will return to Plover
By Patrick Lynn
PLOVER — The 51st annual Festival of the Arts will return on Sunday, April 6, 2025, offering attendees a chance to browse and purchase original works from artists across the Midwest.
The juried art festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Artist & Fare and O’so Brewing Company in Plover.
Organizers said this year’s event will feature 56 artists, selected from more than 140 applicants, representing a variety of fine art mediums. The festival is free to the public and offers ample parking at Artist & Fare.
The festival includes a Kids Art Zone, where retired art teacher Roberta Laine will lead a paper quilling activity from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. inside the Annex at Artist & Fare. An art raffle will also be held to support local art education, with tickets available for $1 each or 12 for $10. Winners need not be present to win.
Six artists will be recognized with cash awards, judged by local artist and retired University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point professor Mark Brueggeman. The awards include the Dick Schneider Best of Show Award ($500), the John Morser Best 2-D Award ($250), and the Brenda Gingles Best 3-D Award ($250). Brueggeman, a painter, printmaker, and stained-glass artist, operates Atelier Vermeil II in Nelsonville and is part of the Hidden Studios Art Tour scheduled for Oct. 3-5, 2025.
The 2024 award recipients were jeweler Barbara Nelson, watercolor artist Peter Sandker, and ceramic artist Carolina Niebres, all of whom are returning for the 2025 festival.
The event is sponsored by Sentry Insurance, which has supported the festival since 2018. Cellcom and Simplicity Credit Union are sponsoring the artist awards.
Founded in 1972 by the UWSP Committee of University Women and the Student Wives group, the festival was originally held as an evening event in the university’s student center before opening to the public in 1974. It moved to Artist & Fare in Plover following the COVID-19 pandemic and is now in its fourth year at that location.
Proceeds from the festival fund community art grants. Since the 1980s, the festival has contributed more than $60,000 to local art education. In 2024, $2,900 was raised for UWSP art students, the Riverfront Arts Center Emerging Artist exhibit for grades 7-12, the Culture & Agriculture Exhibit at Gallery Q, the Stevens Point Area School District, and the Boys & Girls Club.
The Stevens Point Festival of the Arts is a nonprofit organization run by local artists. Organizers encourage community members interested in volunteering to contact Jessie at [email protected].
More information is available at stevenspointfoa.com.