More music, food, art and more than 100k guests: Biggest ever Arts in the Heart

Miguel Legoas, Augusta Chronicle
·2 min read
Kids play the bongos during Arts in the Heart on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Attendees can eat food from around the world, browse for art, and watch live performances. The festival continues through Sunday.
Kids play the bongos during Arts in the Heart on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Attendees can eat food from around the world, browse for art, and watch live performances. The festival continues through Sunday.

Residents may have enjoyed last year's smaller scale ArtsCity festival, but the grander Arts in the Heart of Augusta event made a triumphant return this past weekend, and the 40th annual festival exceeded all expectations.

"It was phenomenal. It was beyond our wildest dreams," said Greater Augusta Arts Council executive director Brenda Durant. "It was the strongest, largest, funnest festival that we've ever thrown."

The Downtown Augusta festival saw 130 arts and craft vendors plus 17 different international food vendors, which drew in over 100,000 guests. Durant said prior to 2022, their biggest festival drew 80,000 guests in a weekend – over 20,000 fewer people. The Arts Council sold so many badges they eventually ran out of the both the preliminary supply and the back-ups in storage, and by the end they were using old 2017 festival badges for new admissions.

Food is prepared at the India tent during Arts in the Heart on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Attendees can eat food from around the world, browse for art, and watch live performances. The festival continues through Sunday.
Food is prepared at the India tent during Arts in the Heart on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Attendees can eat food from around the world, browse for art, and watch live performances. The festival continues through Sunday.

Related: Behind-the-scenes of Arts in the Heart of Augusta's international booths

This was also the largest festival geographically as the council expanded into the 600 block of Broad Street, and Durant said they were pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

"I worried people would think that our festival was too big, but... it gave us breathing room," she said, explaining how in some past festivals, when walking down the paths, Durant felt like "My nose was between the person's shoulder blades ahead of me, like I was in this tight line, and this year I never got that feeling. It was crowded, great crowded, but not suffocating-ly crowded."

Though the vast crowds were also part of what created some long and obtrusive lines, especially in the Global Village, something the arts council hopes to find a solution to for next year's festival.

Ingrid Humphrey, owner of the Original Sister Dolls Collection from St. Augustine, FL, won first place in the Arts Awards at the 40th annual Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival. This was Humphrey's first time at the festival and has been making the dolls from her home in St. Augustine for 30 years.
Ingrid Humphrey, owner of the Original Sister Dolls Collection from St. Augustine, FL, won first place in the Arts Awards at the 40th annual Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival. This was Humphrey's first time at the festival and has been making the dolls from her home in St. Augustine for 30 years.

This year's festival awards and winners include:

  • Arts Awards 1st Place - Ingrid Humphrey’s The Original Sister Dolls Collection, textile art and art dolls

  • Arts Awards 2nd Place - Rebecca Anchor of SIFT+SACK, fine art

  • Arts Awards 3rd Place - Ai Nguyen, jewelry

  • Arts Awards of Merit - Liza Compass, Colleen Williams and Larry Gentile

  • Best Meal - Samoa's platter

  • Best Specialty Drink - Samoa's pineapple drink

  • Judges Award - Samoa

  • Best Meat on a Stick - Latin America

  • Best Dessert - Ireland's whiskey cake

  • Best Kids' Food Item - Cyprus' baklava.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Arts in the Heart's 40th festival saw 100,000 guests, more than 2019