Field of dreams

HUNTLEY – Downtown Huntley is known for its gazebo, farmers’ market, and establishments like The Village Inn and Luigi’s Pizzeria. Tom Heling, N.14, is trying to add one more item to that list.

Heling, who moved to Sun City from Milwaukee last December, is the creator of The First Huntley Artfest, set to run on August 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The First Congregational Church, which Heling attends, is sponsoring and hosting the festival on their “field of dreams,” a four-acre area of grassy land that will eventually be used for a new church.

Though Heling hasn’t built it yet, “they” have already signed up to come. Over 50 artists at Artfest will represent a spectrum of art, from paintings and sculpture to music, martial arts, theatre, and creative writing.

In addition to displaying their work, Heling said about a quarter of the artists will hold live demonstrations to let attendees get a glimpse into their processes.

No festival would be complete without food, and Artfest will feature four vendors at the concession area.

“We’re going to have quite a few different food options for people to buy from while they’re mingling around with the artists and everything,” Heling said.

An artist and author himself, Heling is a veteran of art festivals and has hosted some with 250,000 people in attendance. Those kinds of numbers, he said, only come when a festival is an established event. That’s exactly what he hopes to see Artfest become in Huntley.

“We’re putting our best foot forward; we want this to be a premiere destination for artists in the coming years,” he said.

Although this is Artfest’s inaugural year, Heling said reaction from the village has already been very positive.

“From the mayor down, they’re very excited about this,” he said. “I almost get the impression that they wonder why they never thought of this.”

Feedback and interest from artists has also been positive. Planners for Artfest traveled to 22 different art fairs, visiting one to four different festivals per week to select the artists they felt had something to offer to the festival.

“One artist said to me, ‘Is this a juried show this year?’ And I said, ‘No, we didn’t have time to do that,’” Heling said. “Then he looked at me and he said, ‘Well, you’re kind of jurying (sic) me right now, aren’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got the picture, don’t you?’”

Heling said the artists that were invited are excited to be coming, and about a third of them have listed Artfest on their webpage – something Heling hopes will bring in their fans.

Free off-street parking and complimentary booth sitters are some of the amenities vendors will find at Artfest and part of the reason they come from across Illinois and from Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan to participate.

It seems almost too obvious that Heling is thinking toward next year. His plans are to make next year’s Artfest a juried contest for the fine arts with prizes.

Until then, attendees will have plenty to see and hear at what may be the start of a new Huntley tradition.

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