Over 180 Artists Gather at the Sawdust Art Festival’s Winter Fantasy

Sawdust Art Festival’s Winter Fantasy entrance. | Isabel Rosales/Lariat

Over 180 artists gather at the Sawdust Art Festival’s Winter Fantasy in Laguna Beach every Friday and Saturday from Nov. 22 to Dec. 22.

The Winter Fantasy, an art festival where local artists sell their works and gain exposure, is hosted by the Sawdust Art Festival corporation, a non-profit organization. The festival has an entrance fee of $12 per adult, and offers free entry to Laguna Beach residents on Fridays. Winter Fantasy has three stages of live music, glass blowing shows, food stalls, free art classes, a marionette show, a tree lighting ceremony and a Santa meet-and-greet.

The most abundant features are more than 100 art stalls throughout the festival. The festival is lined with unique looking stalls reminiscent of a little village. The artists occupying the stalls are responsible for building their own shop or contracting someone to build it for them, resulting in a unique assortment of buildings.  

The artists are all Laguna Beach based and offer art in a variety of mediums from mosaics, to paintings, to flower crowns, and many more.  

One of these artists, Karen Petty, has been in the Sawdust Art Festival for 36 years.

“This is how I do all my connections,” Petty said. “I have 2,800 clients. There was no social media when I started 36 years ago.” “We also have a community here, the Sawdust family.”

The Sawdust Art Festival’s Winter Fantasy brings in around 25,000 customers every year. Most are Orange County locals but some come from out of state. 

One person in attendance was Alex Halligan, 46, Laguna Beach local who has attended the festival six times. 

“My mom is an artist and I love art because of that,” Halligan said. “This is a great place for any art lover and has a unique atmosphere. They have food, music, art and snow, what more could you want?”

It takes multiple behind-the-scenes workers to help this atmosphere come to life. Stephanie Lee, 29, is the festival’s program manager in the art education department. This is her eighth year working at the festival and second year in this position. Lee works as the assistant manager on the grounds, in charge of three art studios and a team of 20 staff members.   

 “What draws me to the Sawdust is just the atmosphere, the energy, the different types of people you get to meet and just art in general,” Lee said. “I love to be here, there is so much the Sawdust has to offer and so many ways it can impact the community and I love the grassroots history.”

The Sawdust festival was born in the 1960s by a group of artists who weren’t accepted into The Festival of Arts, a juried show. They wanted to create a space where artists can display their art without it being judged for entry. The name “Sawdust Art Festival” came from a newspaper that ridiculed the festival for having sawdust on the ground and the founders accepted the name as their own.

In 1965 the first Sawdust festival was held and in 1976 the festival secured its current location. In 1991 the Sawdust Art Festival’s Winter Fantasy was established. Since then the Sawdust Art Festival has created year-round arts programs and established the Sawdust Art Enrichment Fund.

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