2020 Bellaire Arts & Crafts Festival canceled; spring iteration still a possibility

The 2020 Bellaire Arts & Crafts Festival, scheduled for Nov. 14, has been canceled, according to an Oct. 20 announcement from the Bellaire Culture and Arts Board, the group that oversees the festival.

Concerns about COVID-19 and the health and safety of festival-goers were the main reasons for the cancellation, said Andrew Williamson, chairman of the Bellaire Culture and Arts Board.

“Last year, it was a big success, and we planned to have it on the second Saturday in November, and on an ongoing basis,” Williamson said. “Lo and behold, here we are in 2020, and we find that we’re stuck with coronavirus.”

The culture and arts board brought back the festival from a 10-year hiatus in 2019 and helped to assemble 50 local artists in categories including fine and mixed-media artwork, ceramics and pottery, jewelry, woodwork, and fiber and textile crafts.

Artists from the 2019 festival have expressed interest in another event earlier next year, in 2021, potentially in the spring, said Williamson, who, along with the board, has remained in contact with the artists. A festival in November 2021 is also still very much the plan for the board.

“The cancellation here has been very much reluctant, especially as it has disrupted our momentum of having it, but hopefully, we can catch up and have one in the springtime as well,” Williamson said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed that coronavirus will miraculously go away next year.”