The Fall Festival at the Verde Valley Fairgrounds will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25 and Oct. 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free admission. The festival will feature arts and crafts, animals and American machinery. 

“There will be games set up for kids and family activities,” Verde Valley Fair Association rental coordinator Cristin Combs said. “We have the Arizona Flywheelers here with all of their engines and their tractors, and they do demonstrations and a tractor pull that will happen throughout the day. Our largest commercial building in the back of the property is where we have it packed full of craft vendors everywhere from things that have been knitted and crocheted to handmade aprons … Christmas items, candles, there’s all kinds of crafts this year.” 

New for 2024 is a silky goat show in the show barn that will take place on both days of the festival. 

“There will also be a few vendors in there selling goat-related products, such as goat soap, and they will have possibly a few of their goats for sale as well,” Combs said. “We also do a scarecrow contest with different businesses or clubs or organizations. Anybody can come and for $25 they can get one of our scarecrow frames and decorate it, and then they’re submitted into a contest. Everybody who [attends] the Fall Festival can vote for their favorite scarecrow.”

Among the exhibits will be ““From One, Many,” a joint production by the El Valle Artists Association and the Verde Valley Photographic Society. 

The exhibition started with VVPS members selecting two photographs, “Rockport Harbor in Maine” by Judy Manocchia and “Tlaquepaque Afternoon” by Larry Gallagher. The artists then selected one or more elements from those photographs and created different interpretations of those elements. 

“I’m a photographer, that’s my artistic area, and my wife Debbie is the painter,” Gallagher said. “So the two of us have done some collaborative work where I’ll take a photograph and then she’ll interpret it and paint it. So that’s kind of where I got started with [EVAA] was through Debbie, who has been a long-time member.” 

Sixteen works have been confirmed for inclusion in the exhibit, which the organizers said poses the question of whether creativity comes from having constraints put on the creative process or from an abundance of choices. 

“A lot of [artists] are representational, and so they do the same thing, kind of again and again, not necessarily the same painting, but they have a style that they’ve done,” Gallagher said. “My feeling has always been that to break out of that style, and to do something different, you need to have some constraints placed on your thinking process, and it forces you to move out of [your comfort zone].” 

“Compositions could be simple or complex, realistic or surrealistic, representational or abstract. Artists could use any media, mixed media or photoartistry to create their compositions,” an EVAA press release stated. “Traditional painting methods, collage … or other two-dimensional methods for your compositions were all welcomed. The goal was to have some fun and create some beautiful art.” 

EVAA is a group of over 100 artists working to promote the arts and education and artistic opportunities throughout the Verde Valley. 

The group will also be exhibiting in the Cottonwood Community Clubhouse during the city of Cottonwood’s annual Walkin’ on Main event on Saturday, Nov. 9, featuring local wineries, live music and a classic car show. 

For more information about the Fall Festival, visit VVFair.com or contact the Verde Valley Fair Association at (928) 634-3290.