Updated: 2012 Cain Park Arts Festival Opens Friday

One of the most popular events of the year for Cleveland Heights is this weekend.

For more than 30 years, the Arts Festival has showcased work from artists from around the country. This year, the festival will feature 150 from New York, Missouri, Vermont and Georgia, to name a few. Artists specialize in everything from painting and pottery to blown glass and textiles.

A few artists hail from the Heights.

Like Grace Stokes, who won a ribbon her first year at the festival and will sell her jewelry for the fifth time this year.

Each summer, 30 artists are awarded ribbons, and that group is invited back the following year. They must reapply, but they have a guaranteed in and won’t get turned down by judges. The show is juried by a group of anonymous artists, Arts Festival Director George Kozmon and Arts Festival Coordinator Honey Feinberg.

Stokes said in an interview for the 2011 festival that the Cain Park event is top notch.

"The people who run the Cain Park festival really know how to run a festival, and know how to treat their artists. I’ve been all over the country, and there’s no comparison,” she said. “It’s great that it’s in my back yard.”

There are four other artists who call Cleveland Heights home:

• Todd Anderson, blown glass
• Gavin Lehman, mixed media
• Maryann Posch and John Gulyas, jewelry
• Chris Zielski, metal
  

The Cain Park Arts Festival runs Friday, July 13 through Sunday, July 15. The festival is free Friday and open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. There is a $5 admission charge per day Saturday and Sunday, and it’s open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Kids 12 and under get in free. The full list of artists is posted on the Cain Park website.

In addition to artists booths, Cain Park has events to keep the little ones entertained. Jim Cruise, more commonly known as “The Spoon Man," blends spoons, music and comedy to create a fun show for kids. And David Kaplan, who can juggle, perform magic tricks, play music and more, will also be a featured act.

Musical acts are also booked Saturday and Sunday and include No Money Down, The Lenny Russo Band, Blue Lunch, The Erik Caron Connection and Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience. A full schedule can be found on the Cain Park website. 

And of course there will be food. But you won’t find elephant ears and corn dogs at this festival. People can choose from a variety of eateries like , Marsha’s Catering, Ohio Farm Direct, , , The Sweet Spot, Java Express, Raintree Restaurant and more.

Each day leading up to and during the festival, we'll feature one of the Cain Park Arts Festival artists on Cleveland Heights Patch. We will also take photographs at the festival and publish them this weekend. Check back each day for more, and from last year's event.