First Allaire Fine Arts Festival Planned For Historic Village In Wall

WALL, NJ — The Historic Village at Allaire is teaming up with the Art Society of Monmouth County for the first Allaire Fine Arts Festival June 3.

More than 50 fine artist vendors are attending the event, said Allaire spokesperson Daryl Lynn O'Connell.

The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Allaire Village, 4263 Atlantic Ave., 07727. Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for children ages 4 to 11. You can buy tickets at Allairevillage.org.

The categories of fine art include photography, painting, oil painting, acrylic painting, sculpture, watercolor and more.

"This is not a craft show or craft event," O'Connell said. "This is original artwork by local New Jersey artisans, and they will line the Historic Village with their talent."

The art will be available for purchase.

Artists will also present demonstrations of various arts media and expertise throughout the day, she said.

Amid all this art, the Historic Village will also be offering its depictions of how life was in the 1830s - all in the country setting of Allaire Village.

O'Connell said the village plans to make the show an annual event.

The festival is both a fundraiser for Allaire Village and also the Art Society of Monmouth County, she added.

The Art Society of Monmouth County, based in Middletown, is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that exists to promote the appreciation, encouragement and creativity in the visual arts in Monmouth County, the organization says.

The Historic Village at Allaire was once an iron-producing, factory-town known as the Howell Iron Works Co. The Howell Iron Works, as a community, speaks to the experiences of the economic and social changes of those living in early Industrial Age America.

The Village was a self-sufficient community containing a carpentry and pattern making shop, a blacksmith shop, a bakery, a boarding house, a blast furnace, mills to finish iron products, a school, a church, a general store with a post office, and workers’ homes.

Iron produced at the village was shipped to New York City by wagon and steamship. It was used to produce steam engines parts in a factory also owned by its proprietor, James P. Allaire.