HALETHORPE, Md. — For the fourth year, thousands of people are expected to head to the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe for the Arts & Drafts Summer Music and Arts Festival.
There'll be 43 artists on display over the two-day festival weekend, as well as musicians, hands-on art activities for families, lawn games and all the food and beer from the brewery's seasonal menu.
Guinness has created two specialty beers for the festival, available on draft and in cans: Blueberry Lime Ale (5.9% ABV) and Harmonic Haze (7.5% ABV).
Admission is free and open to all ages, although children must be accompanied at all times by an adult age 21 or over. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 22 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 23.
More than 7,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which is presented by the Baltimore County Arts Guild.
"It's a very diverse group of artists, which we really pride ourselves on each year," said Arts Guild executive director Monica Herber.
Visitors can buy pieces from artists working in glass, acrylic and watercolor paint, photography, pottery, mixed media, jewelry, sculpture, woodworking and more.
Erin Nelson, an artist who runs nearby EKAD Studio and is a certified Bob Ross instructor, will be at the festival for the first time.
She will be selling her Bob Ross-based landscape paintings, as well as her more surrealist drawings that she says tend to sell better. She works in oil, acrylic, charcoal, watercolor and pencil, among other media.
Nelson said she's "very excited" about the festival "because it's one of the fine-art oriented ones that I'm going to be doing this year."
Herber also said that this festival in particular tends to focus more on fine arts.
Besides the art, there will be music throughout the weekend - jazz from the Kevin Howard Band, Reggae/Soul/R&B from Brian Cunningham Project, Eclectic Rock/Funk/Rock & Roll from the Pineapple Band and Skies in Chaos, and Irish dance tunes from The Pilgrims of Deep Run.
And, with the especially hot weekend, misting tents will be available for attendees to stay cool.
