This will be the 11th annual Mother’s Day Weekend Art Festival organized by ChiVAA, the Chico Visual Arts Alliance. Our show was originally located at the Matador Hotel on Esplanade and named Art Fiesta, then Art at the Matador. This year, 2024, will be our third year as the Chico ART Festival at our new location outdoors on the beautiful grounds of St John’s Episcopal Church on Floral Avenue.
How did the Chico ART festival get started? Twelve years ago Maria Phillips, co-founder of Avenue 9 Gallery, said to Dolores Mitchell “I have this dream of taking over the Matador Motel for a visual arts festival. Imagine visitors strolling through intimate gallery rooms, giving artists feedback and buying art… we’d have music and a cantina, art for kids, free tables for non-profits and a scholarship room… What do you think?” Check the 2022 post by Dolores Mitchell about the origin of the festival HERE.
To find the festival, look for our banner above the church sign on Floral Avenue between East and Manzanita Avenues. Enter the driveway; our main parking will be on the right. Handicap parking spots will be located just a bit further down the driveway right next to the festival booths. Overflow parking will be across the street at Grace Church and on the street.
The church campus is extensive. If you have never visited it, you will be surprised as it is quite large for being located in a residential neighborhood. The grounds are beautifully maintained. The Chico ART Festival’s art booths, the stage, food and coffee trucks, and the margarita bar will be located under tall trees in front of the conference center.
St John’s Episcopal Church overlooks the festival, and is one of the outstanding building designed by Thomas Tarman, one of Chico’s foremost architects. The beautifully-proportioned church is surrounded by lawn and trees that encourage feelings of serenity. It’s an ideal environment for viewing an outdoor art exhibit.
When you visit, make sure to walk the labyrinth. It is behind the church and the conference building. The Labyrinth symbolized wholeness with the circle and spiral combining into a meandering but purposeful journey. Walking the labyrinth is a meditation or payer tool and represents a journey or path to our own center and back again out into the world.
