Coronavirus cancels Tri-Cities Art in the Park. It would have been its 70th year
The annual Art in the Park show at Howard Amon Park in Richland has been canceled for the first time in 70 years because of the corornavirus pandemic.
And organizers of two other popular Tri-Cities summer events, the Tumbleweed Music Festival and Sausage Fest, also announced their plans.
The signature arts event organized by the Allied Arts Association gathers hundreds of artists and a myriad of vendors, performers and nonprofit concessionaires from around the Northwest on the same weekend as the Tri-Cities Water Follies and HAPO Columbia Cup.
“The board made this very difficult decision to cancel the event because the safety of our artists, patrons and volunteers is our top priority,” said a news release.
Last July, the show had nearly 300 vendors — the biggest showing since the 1990s. It was expected to draw nearly 45,000 people.
Art in the Park dates to 1950, starting out as the Clothesline Show — so named because the paintings were displayed on clotheslines — at the Uptown Shopping Center.
It eventually became the Sidewalk Show, with multiple locations around town, before morphing into the arts and crafts event of the year in the park.
The event is a major fundraiser for the Allied Arts Association in Richland that help children’s art programs, provides scholarships, present workshops and other community art education.
Tumbleweed Music Festival
The Tri-Cities Tumbleweed Music Festival will be virtual this year.
The annual free festival in Richland’s Howard Amon Park brings together more than 100 musical acts to a half-dozen stages every Labor Day weekend.
The festival is now transition to an online event called TMFVirtual2020
The Tumbleweed planning committee said it would not be proper or possible to hold the festival in person this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The structure and times of the TMFVirtual2020 festival are being worked out by the committee. The event is sponsored by Three Rivers Folklife Society and co-sponsored by the city of Richland.
Website: tumbleweedfest.com; Facebook
Sausage Fest
This year’s Christ the King Sausage Fest will go on — but the it will be scaled back and be a drive-thru event.
The festival is in its 44th year and is the major fundraiser for Richland’s Christ the King School, 1111 Stevens Drive. This year, the slogan is “Roll With It.”
The September event features carnival games, food booths, music, dancing and outside and inside beer gardens.
But this year, sausage, bierrocks, corn on the cob and other food will be available for drive-thru pickup 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 18-19. Shirts and raffle tickets can also be purchased. All other activities have been canceled.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 10:09 AM.