The nice weather we’re enjoying is a great reason to get out and about this weekend. If you like art, you will love the annual Octagon Arts Festival just up the interstate in the Main Street Cultural District of downtown Ames, Iowa, on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This free outdoor festival features more than 100 artists, including Gary Hoff, D.O., DMU associate professor of behavioral medicine and an accomplished artist. He’ll show nocturnes, New York street scenes and figurative works, including those shown here; you can browse additional works on his Heartland Studio website.
Dr. Hoff has showed his works at many juried art shows, galleries and Des Moines’ annual ArtFest Midwest. He has enjoyed painting and other forms of illustrative art since age 13. He views art as more than a hobby, however: The keen observational skills required to draw or paint something or someone, he says, are invaluable to health care providers.
Another great outdoor option this weekend is Des Moines’ annual World Food and Music Festival, which will be held in the city’s Historic East Village, on East Locust Street between East Fourth and East Sixth streets. Held Friday and Saturday from at 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the festival showcases cuisine from around the world, made even better with live entertainment and cooking demonstrations.
Each of the festival’s more than 40 food vendors will offer entrees priced at $5 or less as well as at least one $1 “taste” item. That’s a perfect way to sample your way around the globe without gorging yourself (although that’s tempting, too, given all the great choices).
Enjoy!
