Visit Westerville
July in Westerville means it’s time for the annual Westerville Area Chamber’s Music & Arts Festival. This summer tradition, held on July 12-13, features 125 fine arts and crafts exhibitors, 20-plus food trucks, 30 musical performances, kids' entertainment, a youth art exhibit, a silent auction and more.
Building upon accessibility measures implemented in 2024, the Chamber partners with the Delaware County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Momentum Refresh to provide universally accessible bathrooms equipped with an overhead ceiling hoist, height-adjustable adult changing tables, sinks, showers and customizable grab bars.
Also new this year is a compost exchange to collect food waste, as well as a water bottle refill station.
Alcoholic beverages such as White Claw hard seltzers, and Rhinegeist and North High Breweries’ beers are available Saturday from noon to 7 p.m.
Children will love crafts with The Arts Council of Westerville, the interactive instrument petting zoo hosted by Musicologie (Saturday) and School of Rock Gahanna (Sunday), caricature drawings and face painting (for a small fee). Don’t miss the youth art exhibit in the historic Everal Barn, highlighting artwork by young creatives ages 3 and up.
After browsing the youth art exhibit, be sure to head to the first floor for the silent auction with all items donated by the festival's fine art and craft exhibitors. Proceeds from the auction benefit future festivals and ongoing event enhancements.
New Performer: North to Nashville
North to Nashville
Country band North to Nashville headlines the Fest lineup this year. The band regularly performs at Harry Buffalo and other spots around Westerville and the central Ohio area – and lead vocalist and Westerville resident Evan Blankenship can’t wait to play for the community at the Music & Arts Festival.
“We’re pretty excited and looking forward to playing in Westerville. We have a good core group of folks, every time we play around the Westerville area, it seems like we always do really well,” Blankenship says. “We have a lot of supporters, and it gets a lot of fans around the area, so it was kind of a no-brainer once we were asked to play the Arts Festival that that we wanted to be a part of that.”
Living in Westerville, Blankenship says it’s possible the community has inspired some of his artistry.
“I mean, country music, at its core, is the story of being authentic to yourself, where you're from… I wasn't born and raised here in Westerville, but it's where my wife and I want to put our roots down. So, I would like to say a little bit of Westerville kind of is trickled into the original songs that I write.”
Jacob Dilley Photography
Artist Exhibitor: Jacob Dilley
Amateur photographer Jacob Dilley has attended the Music & Arts Festival since he was a kid. In fact, the Fest is somewhat of a Dilley family tradition.
“I would help my grandparents, Richard and Marie Dilley, with their booth, ‘It’s a Dilley,’” he says. “Because of that, the Festival holds a special place in my heart.”
During the pandemic, Dilley began watching photo element tutorials and exploring the town as a street and landscape photographer, which he found to be meditative and grounding. He went on to present as an artist at the Festival for the first time in 2024.
“The Festival has been an incredible platform to share something I’m passionate about,” he says. “I especially enjoy when people recognize familiar places in my photos and share the stories or memories they associate with them. That kind of connection is something I don’t think social media can replicate. It’s a meaningful reminder of why I create, and this year, I’m looking forward to more of those connections, as well as sharing some new images I’ve captured since last year’s event.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
