Paseo

**aboatman** · 05-21-2008, 10:08 AM

Greetings everyone,
The Paseo is this weekend May 24, 25, and 26. Come out and support some of the best artists in OKC at the Paseo Festival. This is my favorite art festival in Oklahoma.
Look for the Blue Sage Studios booth and drop in to say hi.
Thanks,
Andy

**EvokeCoffee** · 05-21-2008, 11:12 AM

Hey Andy - we are looking forward to it!

**bornhere** · 05-21-2008, 04:32 PM

There are actually two festivals this year. One is the 32nd annual non-profit festival benefiting the Paseo Artists Association. The other is a for-profit event promoted by a couple of businesses in the neighborhood.

Info on the Paseo Arts Festival here.

**redcup** · 05-25-2008, 08:06 AM

glad someone mentioned the two festivals this year at Paseo. It was a rocky issue that really had no good resolve. The for profit section is piggybacking on the over 30 year run of the Arts festival. They caused many headaches for the planning of this year's non-profit festival and did not provide any funding for advertising etc. The non-profit part has juried artists that must be approved to attend. Not so with the other festival. I was just a bystander as I heard what occurred in the attempts of the other businesses to profit from the festival's successful runs and not be willing to support the efforts with actual $$$ for advertising, etc. Very sad.

**FritterGirl** · 05-25-2008, 09:31 AM

I went yesterday. Festival looked great. We plan to go again today or tomorrow, weather pending.

Personally, I was happy about the second festival as it featured an out-of-state jeweler whose work I had admired and collected for several years at the real Paseo festival. Even though here sales were through the roof each year she participated, and she was one of the better jewelers there, she was asked not to return beginning last year, for what she says were merely "political" reasons.

Obviously, I only had her word on the situation. Nonetheless, I was happy to see her back, even though she wasn't at the official festival.

I'll admit that aside from this particular jeweler and a few other artists / artisans, most of the other "other" festival participants were not high-quality.