In 2008, the Arts Festival was ranked third of one thousand in "Fine Art" by the Art Fair Sourcebook. The festival features painting, glass, ceramics, wood, sculpture, and other mediums from some of the world's best artists and craftsmen. Each spring, my wife and I look forward to the stroll through the hundreds of booths. We not only like it, we're kind of proud of it.
But this is a food blog.
So I should also mention that Main Street Arts also has become an event that draws people for the entertainment and the food. The Festival has the standard hot dog/cotton-candy type booths, but also has dozens of local restaurants selling select items from their menu, and specialty food sellers like Lone Star Roasted Nuts and Schmidt's bratwurst. There are a couple of new food merchants this year, Kinkaid's has a booth, as does Cast Iron of the Omni Hotel. (for the complete list see Food Vendors)
Drinks are plentiful, of course. Diane Wolfe, from the Arts Festival's press department, told me that Fort Worth's, Times Ten Cellars "Wine Experience" is a highlight for many visitors and well worth the $30. The website says that seating is limited so book early (see: Wine Experience).Visitors to Fort Worth can get helpful information on other popular places from our local blog writers (see sidebar "Local Sites I Like"), and for specific questions, Fort Worth Twitter pages could be helpful: Travelista/food-peeps or Gooberdlx/dallas-fort-worth .
This blog has two posts that out-of-town visitors could find helpful: Best of Fort Worth, 2009, and Best Places to Visit in Fort Worth.
We like to think that Fort Worth is a particularly friendly city with amenities equaling all but a few, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco come to mind, but not many more. I may be biased but events like the Main Street Arts Festival prove that I am not far off.
Anyhow, if you are visiting, "Welcome." We hope you enjoy your stay.
Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival
April 8 - 11, 2010
http://mainstreetartsfest.org/Home.aspx
