More than 200 vendors pack City Park for Kingston’s 7th annual Artfest

Monday was the last day for both locals and visitors to attend Kingston’s 7th annual Artsfest.

The event featured more than 200 vendors, as well as music and activities for both young and old.

Whitney Haynes is a local vendor who has been at Artfest every year since its inception. In that time, she has had a front row seat to see how the festival has grown.

Haynes says she is really proud of the way the festival represents the city. “I think it’s drawing people in from other cities,” Haynes said. “I have talked to a lot of my customers that have come from Montreal, across the border from the States, from Ottawa.”

A recent addition to Artfest is the native pavilion dedicated to First Nations artists.

This is the second year it’s been a part of the festival.

Jay Bell Red Bird is the organizer of the pavilion and says he has been pushing for it for much longer.

“It’s good to be integrated and we hope to expand more and have more native artists all throughout Canada to come to these events,” Red Bird said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's good to be integrated and we hope to expand more and have more native artists all throughout Canada to come to these events," Red Bird said.

Red Bird is an artist as well, and says the main goal is to bring Indigenous culture to the larger community and help more native artists get exposure. “I do my paintings here and these are on canvas, so a couple of the artists here ask me where I get it done and so I give them the phone number so they can get a good price.”

The festival’s organizers say they are on track to hit and perhaps break last year’s record-breaking numbers.