Liberty Arts Festival fills Downtown Morris with paintings, sculptures, live music and more

The Grundy County Courthouse lawn and the rest of downtown Morris will be filled with artists, their art, and all sorts of performances Saturday, Aug. 16, for the Liberty Arts Festival.

Julie Wilkinson, the business development director for the city of Morris, said this year’s festival has more than 50 registered artists, a new record, with more going on in the area surrounding the festival.

“I’m excited about that,” Wilkinson said. “It’s a good variety of people, some local, and some have been here in the past. We continue to have a broader reach, so people are coming from central Illinois up to Nnorth of Chicago.”

Included in this year’s event is the Sip-N-Shop, where attendees get a cup from the festival and travel from business to business, trying out both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages while they shop. Also returning this year is a rare art exhibit at the Morris Area Public Library, where an anonymous donor has allowed the library to show a collection of Renaissance-era art from artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Dirk Stoop, David Teniers, Francis Cleyn, Cornelis Pietersz Bega, Jan van Huysum, Wenceslaus Hollar, Nicolas Chapron and Adamo Scultori.

Wilkinson also said there’s a new event accompanying the festival: Darcy Motors is providing a vehicle for festival attendees to paint. Wilkinson said they’ll tape up the windshield and windows while people grab brushes to paint the vehicle. It will then be parked on the street in downtown.

“It’s something different,” Wilkinson said. “The whole point of the event is to elevate the arts, but there’s certainly an economic development impact to it. The other aspect is to give people experiences they might not otherwise have.”

There will also be live music and dance performances throughout the event, running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wilkinson said there will also be food trucks and coffee trucks, along with activities specifically for children.

While the Grundy County Courthouse will be the hub for the event, there will also be an art show from the Morris Watercolor Guild at First United Methodist Church, 118 W. Jackson St.

The guild will be showing off art from its own artists, who range from beginners to hobby artists to people who are accomplished in the field. It will also be hosting demonstrations, along with a book signing from Phyllis Natanek, a guild member and published author.

People attending the festival should also keep track of which drink they like best for the Sip-N-Shop: There will be a vote for the best drink and the top vote-getting business will receive a donation toward the charity of their choice.