Kensington Day of the Book Festival 2023

Key dates:

Registration April 2 - 20

Max participants: 6 persons

Event:   April 23
--Setup: 10-11 am
--Open to the public: 11 am-4 pm
--Break down: 4-4:30 pm

The Day of the Book Festival is back!  

The Kensington Day of the Book Festival is a family friendly street festival, held rain or shine, spanning three blocks of Howard Avenue in the heart of historic Kensington. Come meet authors, poets, literary and community organizations. Live music on a few stages, special guest speakers, poetry readings, cookbook demos, children’s program, and much more. 

This fun annual event celebrates our community and the creativity of our artists! MAA is sponsoring a tent at the festival, with space for up to 6 member artists to display and sell prints, flat originals, greeting cards and a few small artworks. Artists must be present to process sales and volunteer.

Where: The festival will be along Howard Avenue in Old Kensington, between Armory and Montgomery Aves.

Cost to participate: Free; MAA membership is required.

What you may sell: Member artists may bring one print bin, one card rack, and 2 or 3 small works (no larger than 14” in any dimension) with supporting easels. All items must be in plastic sleeves/bags with labels that shows price, artist name, and contact info.

 Volunteering/staffing: As a member event, all participants must bring in their own items at drop off (10-10:30am) and be present to collect them promptly at the start of take down at 4:00pm. Please keep in mind that it is also required that participants sign up to volunteer in 2-hour shifts during the festival day – from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.; providing tent oversight and help with set up or take down as needed. Once we know all the participating artists, we will connect you with one another, in case you wish to pair up and self-organize shifts in the tents to process sales of artwork. 

Sales: Participants will process their own sales and receive 100% of sales; MAA is not taking a commission. We recommend you have electronic methods for accepting payments via credit card, PayPal/Venmo, as well as a cash sales. And as mentioned, you must be present at the booth to process your sales (or buddy up with another artist to help each other).

Disclaimer: Reasonable care and security will be provided by the MAA volunteer artists. Neither MAA nor the Kensington Day of the Book Festival organizations will be held responsible for loss or damage to artwork after dropping off, during the festival, and until picking up afterwards. Artists are advised to have their own insurance.

Contacts: MAA event managers  Jennifer Barlow and Vicky Surles