On an otherwise average day around the town of Bel Air, Shamrock Park and much of the surrounding area was packed with tents and pedestrians. These pedestrians were shoppers, navigating their way through booths at the 47th Annual Bel Air Festival of the Arts.
The Festival took place on Sunday the 16th, drawing about 280 vendors, according to Donna Stufft, the event’s coordinator.
“We have about 350 booths, with nearly 280 vendors, many of who(m) are in multiple locations,” Stufft said, in describing the layout of the Festival. It was Stufft’s eighteenth year as the events coordinator. “My favorite part of the whole weekend is on Sunday morning when all the vendors are in place and shoppers start to arrive, and I realize all the hard work has turned into a great event,” Stufft added.The vendors themselves were an interesting group of salespeople, selling everything from watercolors to homemade crafts. Fifty percent of the vendors were from Maryland, and only twenty-five percent were from Harford County. The event drew vendors from all across the surrounding area, including Jennifer Klingler and Kimberley Burchell of Two Sisters Pottery, a small business located in Baltimore, and Terry Lenzi from Philadelphia.
“We came up for the festival last year and the business was great for us,” Klingler said “We’ll definitely continue coming to this particular festival as long as it remains successful.”
“I’d originally heard about this particular festival through word of mouth,” Lenzi said “I had done business at festivals in Maryland before, and I enjoy this one because of how receptive everyone is here.
The festival will be held for the 48th year in 2013, on Sunday, September 15th.