Last day of ArtSplash sees thousands of attendees

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Thousands of people from far and wide gathered in downtown Sioux City for the annual “ArtSplash” festival.

“Art Splash The 30th Edition,” said Todd Behrens, with the Sioux City Art Center.

“Art Splash is my favorite show of the year,” said Frank Costanzo, an ArtSplash vendor.

“The biggest change this year is we’ve always in the past charged for the craft activities for kids. Those are all free. We got a band from the Gilchrist Foundation, so now we are offering adult art activities for free. So there’s more free stuff than ever at art class this year,” said Behrens.

“So last year we had in the upper fifties, I can’t remember what the total was, but this year we have 75 artists. So, it’s nice we’ve been trying, our goal has been to fill our two streets, the third block of Third Street and Pierce Street that we occupy. And this year it’s full-on art for both streets,” said Behrens.

“I mean, coming up here at least a dozen years, probably sort of pop culture, a little bit of my weird brain and Andy Warhol, Betamax, if anybody knows whose that is. I grew up in the sixties, so I got a lot of music, Beatle whiskey-type paintings, things like that,” said Costanzo.

“My sales are always really good up here, so that’s the main thing. But I’ve never been to another festival anywhere that does it up the way the people do here. They are just top notch, so I can’t believe the way they take care of the artists here. It’s fantastic. I’ve told other shows they need to follow suit of Sioux City, so,” said Costanzo.

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