Alexandria’s Art Festival Social Distances from King Street with Move to Carlyle

In years past, the Alexandria Old Town Art Festival has packed King Street full of art vendors. This year, that changes with a new venue to allow for some extra pandemic precautions.

The Old Town festival will be moving a little west to 300 John Carlyle Street in the Carlyle neighborhood on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13.

The festival will run from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on both days.

“Carlyle is a mixed-use community within the Eisenhower East area of Alexandria and includes high-rise residential complexes, hotels and retail establishments,” the festival organizers said on the website. “The strong support we receive from the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Bureau contributes to the local crowd, and that support continues to its new location. All artwork is juried, which provides a higher level of quality, diversity and creativity of art on display, exemplifying the gifted artists in regions from all over the country.”

The porous movement in and out of the King Street festival that defined it in the past has also been replaced by the necessity of reserved time slots. Visitors will be required to reserve a time slot online to limit the number of attendees. Entrances and exits will also be monitored for one-way traffic, the site said.

According to the website, other pandemic restrictions include

• All attendees are asked to wear a mask upon entering the Festival, with the exception of children aged 2 and under.
• Social distancing is required between artists and patrons, and patron groups.
• Patrons are asked to stay home if they have been diagnosed with COVID-19, awaiting test results for COVID-19, or show any symptoms of the virus.
• Guests are also asked to utilize hand-washing and sanitizing stations on a regular basis and avoid casual touching.

A list of exhibiting artists is available online, including painters, jewelers, and mixed-media artists.

Photo via Howard Alan Events/Facebook