EDGEWATER - The 11th annual Edgewater Arts Festival, set for all-day Sunday, September 8, 2002, has already accepted more than half the art to be displayed at the juried exhibition, it was announced by Neda Rose, Chairwoman of the Edgewater Arts Council.

A second, final call is being issued for visual fine arts, photography and crafts. Honors of $3,000 and $500 are awarded to Best Of Show and two other categories.

There is room for more entries, but an application cutoff date of August 15 must be firm, Rose said.

The Arts Council was formed in 1991 to sponsor an exhibition, but the show quickly expanded to a multi-media festival that now includes live music and dancers on an amplified stage; face-painters for the children; food for all and free guided bus tours of the historic borough, in addition to the exhibition space.

Attendance last year, including visitors arriving by car and by public transportation, was estimated at 2,500, about nine times the 280 who came to the first show, in the ball park at Veterans’ Field.

“For the next six years we had parking problems, we had to turn people away,” said Rose, who is also President of Edgewater’s Borough Council. In 1998, the borough agreed to close Old River Road for the day, moving the festival to Edgewater’s Shadyside section, the traditional home of the arts, crafts and gallery community. Since then, on the day of the festival the street is closed to traffic. Two large lots provide ample parking.

This year, the newly-formed Edgewater Business Alliance is supporting the festival, which also receives funding from commercial and private benefactors and from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts through grants administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.

Artists interested in exhibiting at the 11th annual Edgewater Arts Festival can obtain further information and an Artist’s Application Form by visiting the Festival’s web site at www.edgewaterartsfestival.com, or by calling 201-224-0421 or 201-886-4879.

8/9/02