It's setup day at Loring Park for this weekend's annual Arts Festival.
You come to the fair, you see all the vendors there, and you might ask yourself, how were they all chosen? Festival Director Sara Collins explains.
"It's a juried art festival, the jury does not see the names of the artists as they apply. They show four images," says Collins. "There's this platform that you can put your artwork on. It's free for artists, and then you can select the art festivals you want to apply for. So then we scored the artwork and then it's boop, boop, boop, boop, you know. The computer figures out like who's got the top scores, and then try to kind of even it out through the different mediums, ceramic and glass and paintings."
300 applicants get whittled down to the best 160.
"They'll put their tents up tonight, today, and then tomorrow they come back with all their goodies and fill in their tents and then we open at 10:00," Collins adds.
Since 2000, the Loring Park Arts Festival has offered all kinds of amazing art, music, food, and entertainment. Sunshine Artist Magazine consistently ranks it as one of the best in the country.
There are some very special musicians this time around as well.
"Saturday, kind of a multi-genre day and then on Sunday it's jazz and two of the performers have been on The Voice," Collins says.
The event is free and runs from 10:00 to 6:00 on Saturday and 10:00 to 5:00 on Sunday. You can get more information here.