The Black Swamp Arts Festival gave a thanks on Thursday to the Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green for their support of the Youth Arts Village.

Todd Ahrens, 2022 festival chair, spoke about the 29th festival.

“I’m really here today to say thank you. Kiwanis has been a big sponsor of the Youth Arts Village, as it’s now called, which is one of the things that really makes the festival unique,” Ahrens said. “Thank you for what you do and for your committment.”

Ahrens’ day job is working in the non-profit world, in development and fundraising with the Arts Consulting Group. Previously the director of development at the Toledo Museum of Art, he’s got 30 years of experience in that world and he put some perspective on the challenges for a group like the BSAF.

”Our Youth Art area makes us unique among festivals,” Ahrens said. “If you go around to other festivals you might see a youth art area, but it’s likely a couple tables in the back with some drawing paper. We have activities that really provide inspiration and maybe make people go on to be artists.”

“Your reputation is what other people say about you,” Ahrens said, providing some festival history and the festival impact.

The first budget was $30,000 and it’s grown to $200,000. It’s an entirely volunteer staff, with more than 800 working on the festival last year.

Ahrens recommended volunteering, even if it’s just for one two hour shift. The sign-up is on the event website: https://www.blackswampfest.org/support/.

The Youth Arts and Teen Arts areas need between 300 and 400 volunteers. There is also a lot of help needed pouring beer and in artist hospitality, a function that the artists regularly comment on as a selling point in getting a booth.

“We provide artist hospitality, for all the artists on Main Street, to go down and get a place to go down and grab a bite to eat, so there are just a lot of different opportunities,” Ahrens said.

There will be a couple changes this year.

The visual artists will be shifted further south on Main Street to Washington and Pearl streets. The shift is so the Teen Arts chalk walk and the Beats on the Street challenge can move up to be closer to the Youth Arts Village. It will also create a fire lane for emergency services.

The list of awards the festival has received is lengthy. Ohio Magazine has named it as the Best Festival for three of the last four years. Several of the event posters have also received awards.

The headlining musicians are often right on the cusp of becoming household names. Just after their performances at the Black Swamp, both Billy Strings and Cedric Burnside won Grammy Awards.

All of this notoriety has a synergistic effect, with buzz created for the visual artists who have booths selling their creations.

There were 300 artists who applied to be part of the juried booths and they accept 108.

The 10 art categories range from photography to printmaking and ceramics to fiber arts, but jewelry has the most participants. There is also a section for 50 local artists.

Ahrens said that the bulk of the artists are from the Midwest, but he estimates it at around 50%. The rest have come from as far away as Alaska and, internationally, from Africa.

Because it’s a free festival, Ahrens said that determining attendance during the three days is a challenge, but they estimate it at 40,000. They do have several measuring sticks, including the amount of beer sold and aerial photos of the events.

In the Youth Arts they do tie dye T-shirts, so they plan for between 5,000 and 7,500 kids, depending on the weather.

The impact on the community is deep.

“My wife was an artist in the festival for each of the first 25 years. She always sold a lot. One year she was the award for best 2-dimensional art. We have a lot of connection and always go to the festival,” club president Lee Meserve said. “I really love it that student athletes, and other students from Bowling Green State University, get involved in volunteering.”

Former Mayor Dick Edwards commented on the Youth Arts impact.

“What it does for the city, is it puts smiles on everyone’s faces. Those little hats they make up down there, it’s one of the busiest spots in the whole festival,” he said. “And we’re very proud that the Kiwanis Club is the principal sponsor of the Youth Arts at the festival.”