5 things to check out at the 2024 Des Moines Arts Festival

The Des Moines Arts Festival will be held from June 28 — 30 at Western Gateway Park, featuring food from dozens of vendors, interactive events, live music and — of course — booths upon booths of art to explore.

“We’re really, really excited about the energy and the creativity that we’re bringing to Des Moines this year,” said Executive Director Stephen King.

Featured artist Andy Fletcher, who painted this year’s commemorative poster, has been participating in the festival for the past few years with his wife, Katie. He says it’s one of the best-run festivals he sells at as a traveling artist, and its size means there will always be someone there he knows.

“People get to know you, and it’s familiar faces. We’ve had good conversations with people,” he said. “Being an artist on the road is like being in a band, and nobody understands that, except for the other artists, what your life is like.”

His oil painting for the poster, Wayward Shadows - Jackson County, Iowa depicts an isolated farm along the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa, nestled beneath a blanket of dark blue sky. It’s the kind of landscape he’s drawn to painting: pockets of non industrialized land in wide open spaces, far from the busy roads and businesses he watched take over the towns he grew up near.

“Everybody says, ‘Oh, Iowa, it’s so flat, it’s so boring.’ It’s like, have you been to Indiana? Iowa is very undulating and rolling.”

Fletcher and his wife will be among nearly 200 artists from around the world showing and selling their work at the festival this year.

Here are five things to explore at this year’s festival:

Attend a free concert

Check out one of the Des Moines Arts Festival's two stages — the Hy-Vee Main Stage and the more laid-back Roots Stage — for entertainment all weekend long. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair and watch performances from Sunny War, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the Marshall Tucker Band and several local acts.

Check out the full lineup.

Participate in the Mural Project

This giant, interactive art project allows guests to contribute a small section of an enormous mural all three days of the festival. Guests are given a blank canvas, art supplies and a panel of the original painting to mimic, which, once finished, will be put together on the billboard-sized frame.

The art, Together We Flourish by Emma Parker, is a two-part mural, divided into day and night, filled with flowers representing the heritage and ethnicity of Des Moines Public Schools and the Latinos in Action programs at East High School and Roosevelt High School. After the festival, the murals will be permanently installed at both schools.

Attend an artist demonstration

Throughout the weekend, guests can watch and learn from artists as they demonstrate their craft live. The immersive experience features 18 artists and a wide variety of mediums, from jewelry-making to photography, printmaking and sculpture.

See the schedule.

Eat from a local food truck

The Des Moines Arts Festival is offering selections from 27 food trucks this year. Food — and drinks — span the festival and are available at every corner. On the list to try are Ecuadorian flavors at Bosco's Fusion or BBQ pork tots at Hotsy Totsy. New to the festival this year is Liquid Art, which provides mocktails, cocktails and specialty beers.

See the list.

Attend a screening at the Interrobang Film Festival

This three-day IMDb-verified festival is open and free to the public. Held inside the Des Moines Central Library, guests can watch 50 films — animated shorts, features and even music videos — from 14 countries.

See the schedule.