The Des Moines Arts Festival is an

arts festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lite ...

held every June in

Western Gateway Park Western Gateway Park is an urban park located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Opened in 2006, the park has served as the host to political rallies, the Des Moines Arts Festival, the 80/35 Music Festival, and various athletic events and festivals ...

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. The three-day festival frequently draws in excess of 200,000 people and has been ranked among the top festivals in the United States.

History

The arts festival has its roots in the Des Moines Arts Center's ''Art in the Park'', which started in 1958. Originally held in the parking lot of the Arts Center, the event eventually moved to a nearby park and later the

Iowa State Fairgrounds The Iowa State Fairgrounds is located on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa. It annually hosts the Iowa State Fair in late summer. The state fair was begun in Iowa in 1854 and the current fairgrounds were established in 1886. The fairgrounds w ...

. Following the 1997 event, organizers decided to move the festival

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

and rebranded the event as the Des Moines Arts Festival. With the more prominent location, three-day attendance increased to over 200,000 people, and a more national artist list was attracted. When construction limited access to its location on the bridges over the

Des Moines River The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...

in 2006, the festival moved to its current location in the newly opened Western Gateway Park. Living performing artists debuted in 2009; previous performers have included

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song " I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album ''Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB drama series ''One Tree ...

and

Mat Kearney Mathew William Kearney (; born December 1, 1978) is an American musician born in Eugene, Oregon, and based in Nashville, Tennessee. So far, he has a total of five top 20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart. ''Just Kids'' was released on February 24 ...

Recognition

Since its move, the festival has frequently been ranked among the top in the nation.

References

External links

Official SiteFacebook PageTwitter FeedYouTube Channel
{{Des Moines Arts festivals in the United States Festivals in Iowa 1998 establishments in Iowa

History

Recognition

Sponsors

References

External links