Early registration for the 2023 Art in the Arboretum show and sale opened Monday, May 1. The $35 artist's registration will remain open through Monday, Aug. 21, with a $45 late registration available for about another two weeks thereafter.
This year’s annual festival will launch with a preview party called “Sip, Savor, and Shop” with special raffle items on Friday, October 13th, for the members of Friends of the Arboretum, sponsors, and special guests with the actual sale filling up the weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 14-15.
The return to the traditional October date offers a beautiful fall setting for artists and visitors alike. As the October date fills a vacancy in Wilmington’s Artisan markets and allows for more daylight on Friday evenings opening with Sip, Savor, and Shop event.
Beginning in 2022, individual artists’ booths were spread across the seven-acre gardens, a format that has been renewed and expanded for 2023. This year, according to show director, Bradley Carter, there will be nearly 80 booths on the grounds, including twenty new spaces inside the Greenhouse Gallery and Education Center Gallery.
The festival will feature music from El Jaye Johnson for Friday night’s opening, with many other local musicians filling the air throughout the weekend. Local food trucks 2 Bros Coastal Cuisine and Angel's Tacos will keep visitors' stomachs full and happy all weekend.
As demonstrated in 2022, the booth approach seemed to benefit both artists and patrons and allowed for more variety to be on display. For the show’s beneficiaries, New Hanover County Cooperative Extension, Wilmington Arts Association, and Friends of the Arboretum, the booth format provided an enhanced and logical evolution to the Art in the Arboretum fundraiser format.
The prospectus and registration are now available online at www.ArtintheArboretum.org or email Bradley Carter at bcarter.arboretum@gmail.com for more information on artist registration and business sponsorship opportunities.
The Arboretum, 6206 Oleander Drive in Wilmington, is the botanical jewel of southeastern North Carolina, with seven acres of splendor open, for free, to the public. And through its affiliation with North Carolina State University and that university’s Cooperative Extension Service outreach, Arboretum staffers offer a multitude of services, including soil testing and plant disease and pest triage.