Celebrating art and culture in small town Iowa

REINBECK – Small towns aren’t especially known for art and culture, but the committee in charge of the Reinbeck Art Festival is looking to change that.
For the past four years, the committee has worked to spotlight and support local artists through their annual festival. This year, for the festival’s fifth anniversary, the committee is planning an extra special celebration with a number of fun, new events.
Fifteen new artists – and a total of 27 artists – will have booths set up in various locations, both outdoors and indoors, around downtown Reinbeck on Saturday, September 24, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The artists will be displaying and selling a variety of handmade art including ceramics, digital art, drawing, glass, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor, wood, fiber and more.
On this year’s list of special events is the Midwest Glampers, a retro RV camper group who take a unique approach to art, using vintage campers as their canvas.
Also new to this year’s festival is the Cedar Valley Corvette Club Show and Shine, who will be rolling in all day, and live music by Minneapolis-based musician Matt Hannah, who is known by fans for his unique take on Americana-folk music.
Marion Boyer, one of the founding committee members, reflected on the past four years of the Reinbeck Art Festival, and how far the festival has come.
“It started out as a dream by a couple people, and it blossomed into this,” she said. “It’s fun to see the old artists come back each year, and at the same time it’s really exciting to see all the new artists come, too. And when you go places and visit with people from out of town, people are starting to say, ‘Oh yes, I’ve been to that festival,’ and that’s really neat.”
For the full story, see the September 15 edition of The Grundy Register.