Fall is creeping in, and some of my favorite seasonal events are the Water Valley Art Crawl and the Oxford Artists’ Guild’s Fall Show. This year both will be on Saturday, September 19th, but rest assured that you will be able to do it all as the guild show is during the day and the art crawl is in the evening.  And do not forget about Friday as that evening the Oxford Treehouse Gallery will be opening a new show as well.

On Friday night, Milly West and gallery owners, Vivian and Walter Neill will be showing and selling work from their personal art collections in their current show, Art on the Move: A Fall Collector’s Event. All three are avid collectors who have decided it is time to let some of it go, and this seems to be a perfect way to send some of their treasured pieces off to new homes. The opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show will be up until October 24th. The gallery is located at 328 CR 418.

On Saturday morning, you can head out to the courthouse lawn to check out the art created by members of the Oxford Artists’ Guild. They will be on the square from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The guild is a local arts group with dozens of members who create hand crafted items. This show will feature live music by The Wilburs and the rain date and location is on Sunday, September 20th from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sponsored by the Water Valley Arts Council, the Seventh Annual Water Valley Art Crawl features businesses and private homes that open their doors to welcome arts lovers from near and far. With sixteen stops and forty artists participating, there will be lots to see while strolling in the historic center of town.  Nine historic homes are participating in the crawl this year, and there will be live music and refreshments scattered at various stops along the way.

To get started make your first stop at either Bozarts Gallery at 403 Main Street or further down the street at 303 to Yalo Studio and pick up a map. This will list all participating locations, and you can choose how leisurely or athletically you want to pursue the mission of seeing all there is on offer that night.

I recommend wearing comfortable shoes as you will want to see as much as you can. Each stop has its own personality and features specific artists invited to show at that spot. Each location generously lays out their welcome mat encouraging visitors to come in and linger over good food and conversation. This is the time for asking artists about their process, finding out the history of the home or business or just catching up with good friends. The evening will close with an after party at Hometown Pizza Café on Main Street featuring local band, the Zediker Brothers.

These three events kick off a great season of art, music and culture, and are a great way to spend a Saturday while the ball game is not in town to keep you busy!