DowntownThursday, November 12
The Riverfront Arts District led its first Halifax Art Festival, and thousands came downtown
The Daily Daytona team
If you strolled Beach Street last weekend, you were part of the 64th annual Halifax Art Festival. Thousands of visitors came through, and it was the first year the Riverfront Arts District stewarded the show. The Museum of Arts and Sciences Guild, currently The Brown, organized it before.
The festival filled downtown with art
- 200+
- artists on Beach Street and the Riverfront Esplanade
- About 117
- artists in the juried competition
- 800+
- student artworks at the News-Journal Center
Source: Observer Local News
- Best of Show: photographer John Canterbury, of Winter Haven
- Student Best of Show: Kelsae Ellis, Spruce Creek High junior
- Music: Mike Curb College of Music handled the north stage
- Volunteers: Uncover Volusia County recruited and managed them
Ellis won with a painted portrait of her mom, Sandra. Booths also spread into the Riverfront Esplanade, where a new Collector Circle VIP experience launched in the Rose Garden.
“We're proud of what we accomplished in our first year and are already looking forward to making 2027 even better.”
The festival is the second-oldest continuously operating juried art festival, and its preview said it draws more than 30,000 art lovers each fall. WKMG picked it as a free art festival by the water in Daytona Beach.
30,000+art lovers the festival draws each fall
That's the draw the festival's preview gave for the show, which also handed out more than $20,000 in cash awards to fine art exhibitors.
Source: Hometown News Volusia
Sources: Observer Local News, Hometown News Volusia, WKMG