The Atalaya Festival
The 36th Annual Atalaya Arts & Crafts Festival
This is information on the 2011 festival. STAY TUNED for information on the 2012 Atalaya Arts & Crafts Festival.
Masters of canvas, wood, glass and other art media will showcase and sell their creations at the 36th Annual Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival on Sept. 23-25, 2011 in the historic Atalaya home of Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC.
Representing nine states, 102 artists were chosen from 237 applicants by a panel of art professionals. The arts and crafts cover a wide range of media- from wearable fabric and jewelry to metal, pottery and oil and acrylic fine art. The states represented this year are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
The three-day festival is hosted in Atalaya, the former home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington. The Moorish-style winter home and sculpture studio was built during the Great Depression by the New York philanthropists. The Huntington’s also created Brookgreen Gardens across U.S. 17 from Huntington Beach State Park, one of only four oceanfront state parks.
To help celebrate the festival’s distinctive and quality arts and crafts, continuous live music by accomplished local musicians will be featured on a stage in the courtyard of Atalaya. A food court will highlight seafood, barbecue and other culinary delights.
Festival hours are Friday, Sept. 23, from noon to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults (ages 15 and under are admitted free.) A multi-day pass is available for $10 and Passport Plus holders are admitted free along with three guests. The park admission fee is waived during the festival weekend.
The festival spotlights the park’s natural beauty and the amenities offered to visitors year-round. Located along U.S. 17 in Murrells Inlet, Huntington Beach State Park offers several hundred thousand visitors a year one of the most pristine beaches on the Grand Strand. The 2,500-acre park’s freshwater lagoon, salt marsh and maritime forest also are outstanding examples of the state’s natural coastal environment, and the park is widely regarded as one of the best birding sites along the East Coast. Its natural history is highlighted in the park’s environmental education center.
For more information, contact Park Manager Brenda Magers at (843) 237-4440 or huntingtonbeach@scprt.com, or visit the festival web page at www.atalayafestival.com.