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And with a show of nearly 100 artists and vendors on Saturday, show runner Sue Brown Gordon says she hopes this will be the first of many years for the art event.
"Our expectations were pretty modest," Gordon said. "This is the first annual, and we're hoping to make it the last weekend in June every year, for eternity."
Residents who want to enjoy the festival are in luck. It continues its run through Sunday, June 30, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mathews Park off West Avenue.
This isn't Gordon's first art festival. She has been the festival director for the Bruce Museum shows in Greenwich as well as the Saratoga Arts Celebration in New York.
With her connections, it was easy to get artists from all over the country from California to Florida, to come to participate in the show, even though the main focus was on helping local artists to find outlets for their art.
"This is a way to help so many more artists than just a one off show. And the reason I did it in Norwalk was because I grew up here and the city gave me a scholarship to go to art school," Gordon said. She attended Brien McMahon, where her father had been an art teacher. "We found this to be a beautiful collaboration of all the different artistic organizations in this park."
Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia attended the festivals's first day on Saturday and created what Gordon called the first piece of original art at the festival.
Moccia said the screen print of his hands would make it into a special room in his condo - the storage closet. But the festival, he hopes, will be a greater success.
In addition to the festival's art tents, spectators can also enjoy the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, Stepping Stones Museum For Children and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, which are also in Mathews Park.
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