Kitsap Arts and Crafts hosts its

49th annual festival

this weekend in

Port Gamble.

Kitsap Arts and Crafts defines itself as a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to cultivate and promote the arts in their local community.

And it’s lived up to it for almost 50 years.

The group hosts an annual festival that brings together artists, vendors and entertainers in the North Kitsap town of Port Gamble to showcase the work of pro, amateur and student artists to an estimated 30,000 attendees (according to the Kitsap Arts and Crafts Web site).

Proceeds generated by artist entries and the festival go to supporting out-going senior art scholarships and art docent programs in Kitsap Schools.

The free admission event, stretched over three days, beginning at 10 a.m. July 25-27, is built around juried and open art shows, with paintings, sculpture and photography, fills Port Gamble’s iconic Walker Ames House and the Masonic Lodge across the street. The show is open to all artists in the western United States and Western Canada and will be juried this year by Harry Longstreet, Barbara Benedetti Newton, Leon White.

In conjunction, a student art show, open to all Kitsap junior and high school students, will be featured in the historic Post Office building at the end of the street.

Along Port Gamble’s main street itself, vendor booths from crafts to food will set up shop along with an antique car show, a stage for musical entertainment, a special children’s section and more.

Info: www.kitsapartsandcrafts.com.