It seems like every year the Austin ArtWorks Festival just keeps getting bigger and this year is no different.

Hosting what will be the largest collection of exhibitors the festival has ever had, the festival will slide into its second year in the green across from the Paramount Theatre.

Nationally-acclaimed YouTube sensation Puddles Pity Party will anchor the Dick Schindler Memorial Concert and the open outdoor stage will host a number of talented musicians including American folk singer, violinist, public speaker and disability advocate from Duluth, Gaelynn Lea.

It’s no wonder that Austin Area Arts executive director Laura Helle is excited.

“It’s exactly what we want to do,” Helle said. “We want to celebrate the arts by drawing people into our community and make it a great experience of listening to music, taking in the arts and seeing what we have here.”

An indicator as to how big this  year’s festival, aside from the 67 registered exhibitors, is the ticket sales for Puddles Pity Party as the main act of the Dick Schindler Celebration Concert at 7 p.m. on Aug. 25.

A large majority of the tickets have been sold already.

“We are at 70 percent sold on tickets,” Helle said. “Usually, for us, we sell half of our tickets the day of the show. Not during my tenure anyway have we been in a situation like this.”

What’s also indicative of how big this year could be for the festival is that tickets are relegated only to area purchases.

“We’re seeing, not only a lot of Austin zip codes, but zip codes from other parts of the state as well as the Twin Cities,” Helle said.

On the exhibitors side of things, it will mark another year in the new spot that got a a good reception last year, despite early rains that almost put a damper on things.

“Overall we were very happy,” Helle said. “During the debrief meetings, it was more fine tuning than it was major changes. We haven’t made any changes where festival goers would notice anything different.”

Even with the high numbers, there is certainly room for even more in the future with an estimated 75 spots available.

“We’re heading toward the upper end for sure,” Helle said. “That’s the kind of problem I like to have.”

Things are going so well for the festival that even when things go wrong, there tends to be an upside.

Case in point: Charlie Parr. The folk artist with Austin connections was forced to cancel his appearance at the festival because of an injury.

In turn, festival organizers were able to sign Molly Kate Kestner for an Aug. 26 performance at 3 p.m.

“I would say for us that is really exciting,” Helle said. “It’s really taking lemons and making lemonade with really expensive gin. I really think she’s going to draw a big crowd. It’s a great way to close out our outdoor stage.”

Overall, the ArtWorks Festival will again provide two days worth of art and music to check out. For a full rundown of this year’s festival visit www.austinareaarts.org and click on ArtWorks Festival at the top.

Austin ArtWorks Festival • August 25 & 26, 2018