Abridged by pandemic last year, a more familiar Sawdust Art Festival reopens in Laguna Beach
Artist Jesse Bartels, who works with mixed ceramic tiles, welcomes guests Friday to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
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With the benefit of an outdoor marketplace, the Sawdust Art Festival didn’t shut down last summer, but the pandemic limited it to weekends.
This year’s event, which opened Friday, feels more like it once did, especially with the nearby Festival of the Arts and Pageant of the Masters reopening as well.
“I’ve been here 38 summers, I think, and to me, it just feels like home again,” artist Ora Sterling said. “It’s like we had a little forced vacation, and I was excited to get my booth set up, and opening day, as soon as I heard the music playing, it was like, ‘Oh, we’re back!’ It felt good. It felt really good.”
Sawdust Art Festival Returns For 55th Year In Laguna Beach
Popular Summer Event to Feature More Than 167 New and Returning Artists, Live Music and Demonstrations
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Laguna Beach, California, June 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) The highly-anticipated Sawdust Art Festival a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public and promoting art created in Laguna Beach is thrilled to be back for its 55th year this summer in Laguna Beach.
The festival features the handcrafted work of 167 artists and makers, most of whom live and work in Laguna Beach. Guests are invited to shop along sawdust-covered paths in an iconic art village which is hand-built by the exhibiting artists in a myriad of lumber and color.
Laguna Beach Local News
Sawdust Art Festival board members Bruce Freund, Monica Prado, and Patsee Ober record artists’ booth selections on May 18, 2021. Photo by Daniel Langhorne
The Sawdust Art Festival grounds buzzed with activity Tuesday as artists picked their booth spots for the 2021 season, signaling that Laguna Beach might be nearing the end of its COVID-19 shutdown of large public events.
Booth-picking Day landed a day before Orange County entered the less-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s color-coded system for reopening the economy. Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to fully reopen the economy on June 15, which would allow summer festivals to restart without limits on crowd capacity.
Laguna Beach Local News
The Sawdust Art Festival is tentatively planning an opening day on July 2 for its summer season following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that he plans to fully reopen the economy on June 15.Photo by Mitch Ridder.
Laguna Beach businesses and nonprofits were elated to hear Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement Tuesday that he plans to fully reopen the state’s economy on June 15 as long as COVID-19 cases and vaccinations continue on their current paths.
After more than a year of various stages of closures and modified operations, the news provided many business owners with a much-need opportunity to exhale and seriously plan for a post-coronavirus economy.
(MENAFN - The Peninsula)
The Peninsula
Doha: Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani Al Thani, Second Deputy to the Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association, hosted a Spanish delegation headed by Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain H E Arancha Gonzalez Laya, during a dinner at the Sheikh s Resident in the presence of Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi.
The meeting was attended by Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association, and Sheikh Khalifa bin Thani Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Chamber. From QBA Board members Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser Al Thani and Saud Al Mana attended the dinner, as well as Abdulbasit Al Shaibie, CEO of Qatar International Islamic Bank, Abdullatif Abdullah Almahmoud, CEO of Dar Al Sharq Group, as well as Sarah Abdulla, QBA Deputy General Manager.