Del Ray’s ‘Art On The Avenue’ gets $20K grant from Dominion Energy

In the run up to this fall’s 27th annual Art On The Avenue festival in Del Ray, Dominion Energy is starting off with better footing than last year.

The power company just approved a $20,000 sponsorship to embellish the festival’s Kids Art Corner, a popular activity at the festival where more than a dozen nonprofits provide art activities for kids and families.

“It’s a big deal for us,” festival founder Pat Miller told ALXnow. “Ten-to-14-year-olds wander around Art On The Avenue, but there isn’t really anything for them to do.”

Last year’s festival was disrupted by a 16-hour power outage, which ended up shuttering many businesses on Del Ray’s busiest day of the year.

“I don’t want to think about that (the outage),” Miller said. “This is about the kids.”

Subsequently, Dominion committed to millions in infrastructure upgrades in Alexandria to prevent future outages. The energy giant also gave grants this year to Runningbrooke, Rebuilding Together, the Four Mile Run Conservancy Foundation and the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium.

Dominion spokesperson Peggy Fox said the company is excited to participate as an exclusive sponsor.

“In addition to family favorites, such as pumpkin painting and scarecrow making, Dominion Energy’s sponsorship will bring brand new art styles and activities such as robotic art for kids 10-13 years old,” Fox said. “We’re also hoping to see a kinetic art activity at Kids Art Corner, which is held at the Mt. Vernon Recreation Center fields.”

Art On The Avenue is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 1.