Show Review of the Month Orange Beach Festival of Art

October 2025, by Sunshine Artist Editor

Orange Beach Festival of Art 
Location: Orange Beach, AL 
Dates: March 8-9, 2025 
Contact: Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach 
Website: www.orangebeachartfestival.com 
Email: dhodge@orangebeachal.gov 
Phone: 251-981-2787 
Venue: 100% outdoors 
Space fee: $325 
Exhibitors: 85 
Attendance estimate: 15,000 

COMPILED FROM FASTAUDIT REVIEWS  

The Orange Beach Festival of Art ranked FA97 in 2024’s 200 Best list. All the artists who reviewed the last two shows said they would exhibit in it again. 

“Good sales, good location, great artist treatment,” said an artist whose medium is painting. The artist’s sales totaled $4,800. 

One ceramicist reported $8,000 in sales. This artist loves the show and said, “We have attended this festival for more than 20 years. It is well-organized, well-attended and has just the right number of artists and a good variety of artists with great quality at reasonable prices. This draws in lots of customers and encourages great sales.” 

A fine art artist whose mediums are painting and drawing made $1,500 and would return due to the superb hospitality, organization, view, and staff. “The high-quality work of artists truly draws crowds of visitors, and they truly appreciate the labor in every piece,” the artist said. 

The great show and people are why an artist whose medium is painting would do the show again. This artist’s sales totaled $975. 

Sales totaled $6,000 for one jewelry artist who would participate again due to the event’s great enthusiasm. 

A fine art artist whose medium is drawing said, “The show personnel do a really great job. Facilities are nice and clean. The venue is beautiful. Volunteers are attentive and truly lovers of art.” The artist had $3,000 in sales. 

An artist whose mediums are jewelry and fiber/textile/leather reported $4,000 in sales and said, “It’s a great small festival run by an organization and director that are extremely supportive.” 

SHOW PROMOTER’S SELF‑REVIEW 

Desiree Hodge said Orange Beach Festival of Art’s 51st year “proved to once again, draw quality buyers from around the Southeast, and commentary from guests was exceptional.” 

The Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach sponsors the festival, and she is the director. Hodge estimated attendance at 15,000 for 2025’s event. 

“Rainy weather Saturday night did not linger into Sunday, so we were blessed with good crowds. Our new additions of a Literary Arts area and new highly entertaining Performance Art brought great feedback from both artists and guests,” she said. “Overall, one of our best years yet!” 

What Artists Said 

Hodge said they heard direct quotes from several artists of this being either their best show ever at the event or their best show ever anywhere. One artist noted always being able to make in two days at this festival what takes three days at another nearby festival, she shared. 

“Artists always have positive things to say about our music stage, which gives great background music to a good portion of the show, and they love the food offerings we have with our local food trucks featuring coastal cuisine,” Hodge said. 

What the Promoter Learned 

Hodge said they learned the location of the Literary Arts tent was not ideal, so they will move that. “Also, the final parking and road connectivity project will be completed by next year, so we will be able to offer a better situation for patrons to pick up big pieces of art,” she said. 

Their Best Improvement 

Having on-site staff from the city handle tax payments before artists left the show has been helpful for both them and the city, Hodge said. 

Her message to those considering this show is, “We are known for two things: an abundance of Southern hospitality for artists and a strong marketing program for a show that focuses on fine art. We prefer quality over quantity, and all of these features together brought us a tremendous accolade this year ... we were voted the Best Art Festival in the nation by USA Today readers! This was a tremendous honor, and we owe much of that award to the quality of artists who bring their work to our show.”