Visual, culinary and performing arts of the Driftless Region will be celebrated Saturday, May 17, at the annual Driftless Area Art Festival Spring Gala, to be held in the Gays Mills Community Commerce Center. 

Highlights of the gala are dinner by Dani Lind of Rooted Spoon Culinary, Viroqua, featuring local seasonal specialties, music by Sandler Waggoner and Bob Hill, and a silent auction of original pieces by artists from across the Driftless Area.

Pieces for bid will include paintings, photographs, ceramics, jewelry and fiber arts as well as a few local culinary specialties. Proceeds from the gala will help support the tenth annual Driftless Area Art Festival, scheduled for September 20 and 21 at the Beauford T. Anderson Park, Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin.

A live auction, led by auctioneer Curt Kramer of Prairie du Chien, will include other treats of the Driftless Area, including a dinner in an historic Prairie du Chien home, an art excursion, a hay wagon ride and float down the Kickapoo, a trout fishing experience, and other surprises.

In another regular favorite of the yearly gala, Kramer will auction the three prizewinners from the 2013 KidsArt Gallery, chosen from over 400 works by young artists, raising money for school art programs. This auction will include three blue–ribbon winners from St. Charles Elementary School in Genoa:  Serenity Rasch’s painting ‘Spotty the Owl;’ Vin Buchner’s clay piece, ‘Summer Sunflower;’ and Lane Buchner’s painting ‘Mississippi Twilight at the Ferryville Boat Landing.’  Proceeds from a fourth auction item, a framed photograph by blue-ribbon winner Olivia Katieb of Viroqua’s Youth Initiative High School, will help fund the Teen Art Gallery at the 2014 Festival.

Invitations for the gala are being mailed, and anyone who would like one can call Anna Rodriguez at 608-637-3788 or email gala@driftlessareaartfestival.com. 

Full information on the May gala, and on the Festival, set for September 20-21, 2014, in Soldiers Grove, can be found at www.driftlessareaartfestival.com.