Mill Creek Park | FREE Public Admission | August 10, 2024
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This event is waitlist only as of March 8!
Please join the waitlist online through South Portland Parks & Rec at www.sopoparksrec.com.
Applications may also be printed and delivered via mail or in-person.
About Art in the Park
The City of South Portland's Art in the Park is an annual summer favorite for both artists and attendees dating back to 1980. Held on the second Saturday in August in beautiful Mill Creek Park, the show features original art and photography by up to 170 artists, a food court, and music in the afternoon. Admission is free to the public. The show opens at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m.
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Prize winners are announced at noon at the gazebo. Prizes range from Best in Show ($1000) to Merit Awards (five at $200 each) and include Best Photo in Show ($600). The Judges' Tent, with one submission by each artist in the show will not be open to the public so as to allow the artists to retrieve his/her artwork and allow it to be shown at their individual stands.
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Costs of the show are paid for by artists' fees and donations from sponsors. Revenues over and above costs of running the event are used for park improvements. Past improvements have included the gazebo, the fountain, a contribution toward holiday lighting, as well as to the city's Greenbelt Walkway and the re-design of the park itself.
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Art in the Park also awards a $1000 scholarship every year to a student graduating from South Portland High School who is going on to study art in college.
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Kids in the Park
10am-2pm | FREE
The 2023 Kids in the Park tent included:
Story reading with South Portland Library
Bracelet making with Portland Museum of Art
Crafts with South Portland Park Rangers
Face painting, balloon twists and more with Party Palooga
Food Court
11am-3pm | Sales through food trucks
2023 food vendors included:
Eighty Eight Donuts (available in the morning for coffee!)
Totally Awesome Vegan Food Truck
Mainely Burgers
Bamboo Bistro
Meet on the Street
Little Ipoh
Mainely Hotdogs
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Open from 11am - 3pm, the food court features good things to eat ranging from sandwiches and hamburgers to ethnic cuisine to frozen treats. Located in the Broadway/Ocean Street area of the park near Kids in the Park, the food court offers tables and chairs for you to enjoy your meal, or you can relax on the grass under a tree and listen to musicians play in the gazebo.
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Student Exhibit
9am-3:30pm | FREE
Art in the Park is proud to showcase art by students in South Portland schools. The students' work will be on exhibit from 9:00 AM until 3:30 PM in the Student Tent across from the Judges' Tent
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Every year, the Committee chooses student art works to use in promotional materials for the show: posters that are distributed throughout the community, the show T-shirt, the cover of the program, and ads in the Portland Press Herald.
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The show also exhibits works by students in the Student Art Tent. Each art teacher selects and mattes works for the exhibit. The judges select six student prize-winners from among the art by high school students exhibited at the show.
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In lieu of individual awards for elementary and middle school students, Art in the Park gives a $50 Class Award to each art teacher to supplement class supplies.
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South Portland Public School will also be collecting new art supplies!
Scholarship
Every year Art in the Park gives a $1000.00 scholarship to a student graduating from South Portland High School who is going on to study art in college. Arthur Hahn, for whom the scholarship is named, was one of the founders of Art in the Park and a well-known promoter of the arts in the Greater Portland area.
2024 Sponsorship Opportunities
View sponsorship details
2023 Show Sponsors
Future Show Dates:
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Art in the Park is always held on the second Saturday in August (unless storms arise). There is NO rain date for this event. The following are the upcoming show dates:
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August 9, 2025
August 8, 2026
August 14, 2027