OLD FLORIDA CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS UPDATE
March 29, 2021
The Cedar Key Arts Center Board and Old Florida Celebration of the Arts (OFCA) Working Committee voted on Saturday, March 27, to proceed with hosting the 57th Spring Arts Festival in Cedar Key three weeks from now on April 17 (10-5) and April 18 (10-4). We are grateful to all of the members of the community (restaurant owners, lodging units, business owners, artists, art center members, commissioners, city staff and respected community members) for their input over the past 4 months as we have continued to be “cautiously optimistic” and work toward Re-envisioning a COVID-conscious event. In addition, the board has followed COVID case rates/100K & Test Positivity Rates in counties that have hosted similar events in North Florida since February 1 and have been pleased to see the gradual decline in COVID cases and increase in vaccination rates since the first of the year, without increases in number of cases in the counties hosting the events or in surrounding counties.
The 2021 OFCA layout has been changed to provide generous spacing and reduce congestion by reducing the number of artists and changing the layout to facilitate one-way flow. Other recommended outdoor festival best practices will be implemented including the reduction of the number of volunteers needed, masks for artists provided by Title Sponsor, Palms Medical Group. Free masks will also be available to visitors at multiple entry points. Numerous hand sanitizer stations provided by Tobacco Free Partnership of Levy County will be throughout the venue, and signage to direct flow and remind patrons to adopt the CKS Slogan “We are all in this together. Mask-Up, Back-Up, Wash-up.” The park will have food provided by Cedar Key School Groups to benefit their organizations but there will be no non-profit information booths, music, or kids’ art activities this year to reduce congestion in the park.
We are all aware of how busy Cedar Key has been the past several months and the stress that it has put on the restaurants and city staff. Reports from other Art Festivals indicate that attendance is down but the visitors are clearly art enthusiasts based on increased sales reported despite the smaller crowds. We have continued to focus our advertising on this demographic and are making it clear to potential visitors that our focus is on ART and SAFETY this year. In addition, as has been done on past festival weekends for years, the Cedar Key Police Department will notify boaters of the event to reduce boat traffic. Parking is clearly an issue but we anticipate that visitor traffic will be also be impacted by the fact that the event is occurring in the latter half of April when past Art Festival records show reduced attendance. We also anticipate a decline in the spring break visitors who have provided great business for Cedar Key but pushed our capacity limits lately.
As much as we appreciate the years and years of volunteerism and support from our community that has helped make the Old Florida Celebration of the Arts a top rated fine-arts show, we trust that everyone understands that, like so many things that are different this past year, it is necessary for us to eliminate some of our famous “artist amenities” to minimize the number of volunteers needed. In addition, we completely understand if members of our community prefer to “pass” on the event this year for health or other reasons.
More information about the artist attending this year’s event and other festival information can be found at www.CedarKeyArtsFestival.com. If you have questions contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
*****
