by Ezabelle Janssen, Senior Staff Writer
GULFPORT (GG) — Downtown Gulfport was bursting at the seams as the Second Annual Gulfport Arts Festival brought coastal creativity into the sunshine Saturday, September 19th. Held outside the Gulfport Arts Center along 13th Street and 24th Avenue, the free, one-day festival filled the heart of downtown with pottery, paintings, stained glass, jewelry, woodworking, and other creations from local and regional artists.
Live demonstrations, musical entertainment, and coastal cuisine rounded out a day designed to offer a little something for everyone.
For Caroline Crocker, director of operations at the Gulfport Arts Center, the steady stream of visitors was a welcome sign that the young event is already finding its place in the community. “Our vendors seem to be really happy. I couldn’t be happier,” Crocker said as the festival entered its final hour. “I’ve had nothing but good comments from people who have come to see it or buy art. It’s been a great turnout.”
The festival also painted a much bigger picture than it did during its 2025 debut. Last year’s event featured 55 booths, while this year’s lineup grew to more than 80 — just short of 90. Crocker said additional sponsors helped organizers expand the festival and offer more attractions. “It made it bigger and better and allowed us to offer more items here,” she said. Crocker first became involved with the organization as an artist. She and a group of fellow creatives began imagining an event that would give Gulfport artists a festival of their own. “Gulfport has never had its own arts festival like other cities around us,” she said. “So, we worked and worked and worked really hard until we could start it last year.” That work is beginning to bead together into a new downtown tradition.
Among the artists displaying their work was April Hensley, owner of Bayou Gypsy, whose handmade jewelry features intricate patterns created from tiny glass beads. A small pair of earrings can take between an hour and a half and two hours to complete, depending on the design. “It’s all handmade with little glass beads,” Hensley said. “You just don’t see that kind of quality anymore.”
For Hensley, festivals provide artists with valuable exposure, opportunities to sell their creations, and chances to connect directly with fellow creatives and art lovers.
Her business name, Bayou Gypsy, reflects the free-spirited personality woven into her work. “I’ve got a gypsy soul,” she said.
That creative spirit could be found throughout the festival and inside the Gulfport Arts Center, housed in the restored historic Carnegie Library building at 1300 24th Ave. The nonprofit gallery showcases locally produced art of any and all kinds, much of which is available for purchase. The center also serves as a public studio, offering art classes, workshops, special exhibits, children’s camps, and a writers group for people of varying ages and experience levels. Its roots stretch back to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Mary Anne Barkley and the late Kathy McCall co-founded the Gulfport Galleria of Fine Art to help local artists share their
work. The organization became a nonprofit in 2015 and later moved into the Carnegie Library building through an agreement with the City of Gulfport.
Today, the gallery and its growing festival continue that mission by creating space for artists and the local community to come together. “We want people in Gulfport to know that we have so many fascinating and marvelous artists right here in our own town,” Crocker said. “This is the best way to bring us all together.”
With support from sponsors, volunteers, and dozens more artists joining the celebration this year, the festival’s second showing demonstrated just how quickly a creative idea can grow. Last year may have provided the first brushstroke, but Gulfport’s artists are only beginning to fill the canvas.
Photos by Ezabelle Janssen/The Gazebo Gazette
