Peter Anderson Festival kicks off this weekend

The Peter Anderson Festival is the largest fine arts festival in the state. It starts tomorrow in Ocean Springs.

The Peter Anderson Festival started 40 years ago as a way to honor master potter Peter Anderson and now it is bringing artists from across the country to Ocean Springs for two days of art, food, and music.

One of the art galleries participating is Hillyer House. They have been located on Washington Avenue for 13 years and are always eager to participate in the festival. Hillyer House employee Sally OKeefe said, “We are in the heart of downtown Ocean Springs which is so great. It’s fun every day, but especially during the Peter Anderson Festival. People come from all over the U.S. to this festival and for them to come in and spend that time here in our city. We get to meet them and talk to them and know their story. So, it is a lot of fun to meet them and interact with other artists as well.”

The event has 450 vendors registered with some buying two or three spaces. A crowd of 150,000 is expected for the two day festival. Cynthia Sutton said, “We have two stages this year instead of one. We have a local grassroots stage and then we have a main stage with live entertainment. We have all kinds of fun, interactive hands-on activities and demonstrations this year.”

The city already has no parking signs all along Washington Avenue and outside of the chamber of commerce, but they say parking shouldn’t be a problem because they have park and ride stations set up all across town. “We want to make sure you know where our park and ride locations are because that is what we highly recommend everybody use to get there,” said Sutton.

Those pick-up locations for the park and ride in Ocean Springs are at Ocean Springs Upper Elementary, Oak Park Elementary, or Greyhound Stadium.

Washington Avenue and Government Street will be closed to traffic from 3 a.m. Saturday until 7 p.m. Sunday.

The Peter Anderson Festival is sponsored by Blue Moon, but all ages are welcome to attend. More than 50 kids are even getting in on the festivities with the ‘Young at Art’ exhibit which has been relocated near the Walter Anderson Museum of Art due to its growth. “Kids age eight to 18 get to come out here and be an artist of their own and sell their own art work and be entrepreneurs and artists just like the adults in the festival who have been doing this for years,” said Sutton.

This event is free and everyone is welcome. The festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. You may want to bring a little cash to take home some of the art you will see.