With the summer quickly approaching, preparations are underway for the 2014 Medford Art, Wine and Music Festival. It is scheduled for June 1 from noon to 4 p.m. along Main Street.
The Medford Business Association and the Medford Arts Center are accepting applications for vendors, wineries, sponsors, artists and crafters for the event. According to business association executive director Dave Vaughn, participation in the 2014 event is holding steady with last year’s pace.
“We’re right on target with last year,” he said. “We have nine wineries, some food vendors, and we’re expanding the car show this year.”
The expanded car show is one of the big highlights of this year’s event. Last year, the show was located at the far south end of Main Street and was described by Vaughn as more of a “cruise” than an actual car show.
This year, there will be more vehicles, and they will be located toward the center of the festival at a main intersection of the street.
“This will be approaching the size of a car show,” Vaughn said. “We’re building for each year.”
In addition to the cars, the business association has already lined up more wineries than last year’s total of seven. Vaughn said many of the kids’ events will return and there are about 10 musicians lined up so far. Applications for vendors are expected to continue pouring in.
“They’re still coming,” Vaughn said. “They pretty much come in through April and into the month of May.”
In addition to the expanded car show, this year’s festival will include a beer garden for the first time. Janet Jackson-Gould, the chairwoman for the Medford Arts Center, said beer vendors will be set up in the gazebo on Main Street.
“There will be music in the gazebo and people can come by and sample tastes from beer vendors,” she said.
The year’s festival is the fifth co-hosted by the business association and the Medford Arts Center. The arts center began helping the business association in 2010 when the MBA lacked the volunteers to run the event alone.
“They didn’t have the manpower to make it happen,” Jackson-Gould said. “The arts center partnered with the business association and we do it together.”
The MAC takes applications from artists and crafters to set up tents at the event. The artists pay the arts center for the space and can use it to sell their works to patrons.
Jackson-Gould said the festival embodies the organization’s mission of bringing area residents to the township’s downtown businesses. The event is the largest fundraiser for the arts center, and the recent partnership between the two organizations has allowed it to grow ny leaps and bounds.
“One of the art center’s missions is to bring commerce to Main Street,” Jackson-Gould said. “We do the Third Thursdays and we’re always open, but there’s no better way to bring people to Main Street.”
Businesses and artists who are interested in participating can visit www.medfordbusiness.org for more information and to download applications.
