Lazy Daze Returns with Celebration of Arts and Summer
Cary, NC – Before the Downtown Cary Park, before the Cary Arts Center, before many of the cultural touchstones that we recognize, there was Lazy Daze. The arts and crafts festival returns to Downtown Cary this month for its 43rd year.
The 43rd Annual Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, August 24 and 25, 2019, at Cary Town Hall Campus, running from 9 AM to 6 PM on Saturday and 12:30 to 5 PM on Sunday.
The festival features more than 300 artists and vendors, as well as live dance and music on four different stages, plus roaming entertainers.
This year’s featured artist is the founder and director of the Village Art Circle, JJ Jiang, and his watercolor “Celebration of Summer” draws on the bronze statues of children playing outside of Town Hall.
“In front of Cary Town Hall campus there is a group of bronze statues of happy children installed on the sidewalk. For years, these statues have been situated there, faithfully greeting people passing by. They have become a symbol of Downtown Cary’s spirit in some way,” Jiang said in his artist statement. “Since the annual Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival takes place on the same grounds where the statues are situated, it is natural and fitting to integrate those iconic artworks into the design. Instead of directly borrowing those bronze statues, I incorporate them within the scene of a hot summer, and let the sun turn them into bright and lively rainbow-colored figures.”
Along with artist vendors and live entertainment, this year also has live crafts demonstrations by the Raleigh Leatherworkers Guild, the NC Gourd Society and Tri-Tatters. There will also be demonstrations of Taiwanese cooking, presented by North Carolina Taiwanese Cultural Arts, at Herbert C. Young Community Center. Additionally, there is a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration at the Beer Garden on Saturday.
The solar wings textile sculpture by artist Michael Roy Layne will be back this year, located on the lawn in front of Town Hall.
To get out of the sun while still seeing artwork, there will be arts exhibits inside the Page-Walker Arts & History Center, as well as presentations from the NC Storytelling Guild there from 11 AM to 1 PM and 2 to 4 PM on Saturday and 1 to 3 PM on Sunday. At the Cary Theater, they are playing 16 of the short films from the 2018 BEYOND: The Film Festival for free, with the films playing on a loop.
And while you are out, keep an eye out for five “Little Jerry” dolls, named after Cary artist Jerry Miller. Anyone who finds a Little Jerry and takes a photo with it can upload their picture to the Lazy Daze Facebook page to enter for a chance to win big.
For people who want to get to Lazy Daze but do not want to deal with traffic and limited parking, there will be shuttles leaving from Green Hope High School and Cary Towne Center.
Event Details
43rd Annual Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival
Saturday, August 24, 2019 from 9 AM to 6 PM
Sunday, August 25, 2019 from 12:30 to 5 PM
Cary Town Hall Campus, 316 N Academy St.
Story by staff reports. Photos courtesy of the Town of Cary and Brooke Meyer Photography.
See you there! Be sure to stop by the Page-Walker…the Friends of the Page-Walker and the Cary Historic Preservation Commission will be on the front porch. Plus the facility, despite being an 1868 hotel, has air conditioning and indoor plumbing!