Randolph County Alabama Art on the Median Festival

Most art shows take over a hall, a park or a closed street. This one takes over the strip of ground running down the middle of town. The Randolph County Alabama Art on the Median Festival is a juried art show staged on the central median in downtown Wedowee, the county seat of Randolph County, where local artisans and craftspeople set out their work in the open air and visitors wander from maker to maker along the median itself. It is a long-running fixture of the town’s calendar, held twice a year, once in June and once in October, and its takings help fund scholarships for students in the area. The event has grown from a single June show into a pair of seasonal gatherings that now blend art and crafts at both editions, in one of the more unusual festival settings in east Alabama: a working main street, a green median, and rows of handmade work displayed where traffic would normally be the only thing passing through.

About the Festival

The show’s identity begins with its name, and the name has never settled into a single printed form. The original June event is written “Art on the Median” in a local lake magazine, which is the founding name the title of this article carries. The October show is written “Art and Crafts on the Median” in the same magazine, while a festival-listing service uses the combined modern form “Arts and Crafts on the Median” for the event as a whole. All three forms describe the same Wedowee gathering, and visitors searching for details may need to try more than one of them.

The organising body is recorded under two conflicting name forms, and the sources do not agree on one spelling. The lake magazine’s February 2025 feature names the “East Alabama Arts Society” and reports that the society uses money raised to fund scholarships to deserving students in the area. The magazine’s own blog, in a scavenger-hunt post, presents the October show as “Art and Crafts on the Median presented by East Alabama Art Society,” dropping the plural from the middle word. Neither form can be confirmed over the other from the published record, so both are carried here exactly as printed, unmerged.

What is consistent across every account is the format. This is a juried show, which means exhibitors are selected rather than simply renting space, and the work on display is made by local artisans and craftspeople who display and sell their pieces directly to the public. The setting does the rest of the work: downtown Wedowee, on the median, in a small county-seat town where the show has become a recurring meeting point between makers and their neighbours.

Quick Facts

Item	Details
Festival name	Art on the Median; also written Art and Crafts on the Median and Arts and Crafts on the Median
Type of event	Juried outdoor art and crafts show
Host town	Wedowee, the county seat of Randolph County, Alabama
Venue	The central median in downtown Wedowee
Organiser	Recorded under two published forms, East Alabama Arts Society and East Alabama Art Society; the sources do not settle on one
When it is held	The second Saturday of June and the second Saturday of October
Listed June date	June 13, 2026, in a festival-listing entry, with an exhibitor application deadline of June 1, 2026
First held	2008, as stated by the lake magazine’s blog
Admission	No published attendee charge or free-admission statement was found; exhibitors pay a vendor fee
Proceeds	Money raised funds scholarships for area students, according to the lake magazine

History

The fullest account of the show’s beginnings comes from the lake magazine’s blog, and it is recorded here as that blog’s statement rather than as an independently audited founding record. In the blog’s words: “It started in 2008 as Art on the Median, the second Saturday in June. A few years later Crafts on the Median was added in October. In recent years, the event has embraced both Art and Crafts at both shows.” That short history explains the tangle of names. The June original carried art alone in its title, the October addition carried crafts, and once the two line-ups merged in practice, the printed names began to overlap as well.

For a useful comparison, see the Randolph County Alabama Fall on Main Festival for another county festival.

Longevity is the other thread running through the coverage. The magazine’s February 2025 feature describes the June show as a staple of Lake Wedowee for more than 15 years, counting from the 2008 start the blog records. The blog itself calls the combined event a must attend event in Wedowee for more than a decade. No edition number is billed in any source checked, so no ordinal is claimed here; the record supports a show that began in 2008 by its own organisers’ account and has run long enough to anchor two seasons of the town’s year.

The scholarship purpose belongs to this history too. The magazine reports that the presenting society channels money raised by the show into scholarships for deserving students in the area, which ties the festival’s survival to something beyond a pleasant Saturday: each edition is also a small fundraiser for local education, run by volunteers from the same community that turns out to shop.

What to Expect

Expect a show that behaves more like a market street than a gallery. Because entry is juried, the stalls along the median hold work that has passed a selection process, and the makers themselves stand behind it, ready to talk about how a piece was made and what it is made from. Local artisans and craftspeople display and sell their work, so browsing and buying are the heart of the visit, and conversations with the people who produced the pieces are part of the attraction.

Expect the two editions to feel like siblings rather than twins. The June show is the original, the one that began in 2008 on the second Saturday of the month. The October show arrived a few years later as the crafts counterpart, billed in the magazine as the second Art and Crafts on the Median of the year. In recent years, by the blog’s account, both shows have embraced art and crafts together, so a visitor at either edition should find a mixed line-up rather than a single discipline.

Planning Your Visit

Two Saturdays govern the whole plan: the second Saturday of June and the second Saturday of October. A festival-listing entry gives the June 2026 show date as June 13, 2026, in downtown Wedowee, so anyone travelling for that edition can anchor the trip to that listed date and confirm details closer to the day. The October edition follows the same second-Saturday pattern in its month.

One honest gap in the record deserves attention before setting out. No attendee admission price and no free-admission statement appears in any source checked for this show, so visitors should not assume either a charge or free entry; the only fee the sources confirm is on the exhibitor side. The magazine’s blog states plainly that it is a juried show and a vendor fee is required, with Sylvia Grant named as the vendor-application contact. That fee amount is not published in the sources checked, and a vendor fee is never the same thing as attendee admission. Shoppers should simply come prepared to pay the individual makers for whatever they buy, since the work on the median is displayed for sale.

Wedowee is the county seat of Randolph County, which makes it the natural base for the trip, and the show sits right downtown on the median, so the visit needs little navigation once you arrive.

A Sample Itinerary

Begin the morning by walking the entire median once without buying anything. A full first pass shows you the range of the jurying, lets you note which makers you want to revisit, and keeps the early enthusiasm from spending the whole budget at the third stall.

Spend the late morning in conversation. Ask exhibitors how their pieces are made, which materials they favour and whether they show at both editions. Makers at juried shows generally welcome the questions, and the answers turn a purchase into something with a story attached.

Break at midday in downtown Wedowee, then return for a slower second pass in the afternoon. Pieces that looked similar at speed separate themselves on a second viewing. Finish by collecting contact details from any maker whose work you admire but cannot carry home, and by confirming the date pattern for the next edition before you leave town.

How the Two Editions Compare

The June show is the founding edition, launched in 2008 as Art on the Median and still described by the magazine as the anchor of the pair. It falls at the start of summer, on the second Saturday of June, and carries the original name in its purest form. The October show began as Crafts on the Median, added a few years after the June original, and is billed by the magazine as the second Art and Crafts on the Median. It falls on the second Saturday of October, in cooler autumn weather.

The differences have narrowed over time. Because both shows now embrace art and crafts together, the distinction today is mostly seasonal and historical rather than a difference in what is sold. A visitor choosing between them is really choosing between an early-summer Saturday and a mid-autumn one.

Planning Checklist

• Confirm the edition you want: the second Saturday of June or the second Saturday of October
• Check the current listing for the exact date before travelling, as the June 13, 2026 date comes from a listing entry
• Do not assume admission is free or priced; no published statement settles it
• Bring a way to pay individual makers, since work is displayed for sale
• Allow time for a full first walk along the median before buying
• Note the exhibitor application deadline of June 1, 2026 if you hope to show work yourself
• Remember that exhibitors pay a vendor fee, and its amount is not published
• Search under all three name forms when looking for announcements

Beyond the Median

A trip to the show doubles as an introduction to Wedowee itself, the county seat of Randolph County and the town the magazine’s coverage ties closely to nearby Lake Wedowee. The February 2025 feature frames the June show as a staple of the lake community as much as of the town, which suggests the audience spills well beyond the courthouse square: lake visitors and town residents meet on the same median.

The setting rewards an unhurried approach. Because the show occupies the middle of downtown rather than a fenced ground, the boundary between festival and town is porous, and the visit naturally extends into the surrounding streets. Pairing the show with time around the lake area turns a single Saturday event into a fuller weekend in Randolph County.

Why the Festival Matters

Plenty of small towns host an art fair; far fewer host one on the median strip in the middle of their main street, and fewer still keep it running from 2008 across two seasons a year. The show’s significance in Wedowee rests on three legs. It gives local artisans and craftspeople a juried, public platform in their own county rather than forcing them to travel to larger cities to be seen. It converts a pleasant shopping Saturday into scholarship money for area students, a purpose the magazine records directly. And it has lasted: more than 15 years by the magazine’s count, long enough for the October addition to become a tradition of its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the show take place on a median?

The median setting is the event’s defining feature and the source of its name. The shows are staged on the central median in downtown Wedowee, so the displays line the middle of town rather than a hall or fairground, and the name Art on the Median simply describes where everything happens.

Which name is correct, Art on the Median or Art and Crafts on the Median?

Both are in print, alongside a third combined form. The lake magazine writes the original June show as Art on the Median and the October show as Art and Crafts on the Median, while a festival-listing service uses Arts and Crafts on the Median. The title of this article keeps the founding name; the others refer to the same Wedowee event.

What does the money raised by the show support?

According to the lake magazine’s February 2025 feature, the presenting society uses money raised to fund scholarships to deserving students in the area. That educational purpose is one of the reasons the show is organised as a community effort rather than a purely commercial market.

How can an artist or crafter take part as an exhibitor?

The show is juried, and the magazine’s blog confirms that a vendor fee is required, with Sylvia Grant named as the vendor-application contact. The fee amount is not published in the sources checked. A listing entry for the June 2026 show gives an artist and crafter application deadline of June 1, 2026, so prospective exhibitors should watch for announcements well before the June date.

What to Expect From the Next Randolph County Alabama Art on the Median Festival

How often is Randolph County Alabama Art on the Median Festival held?

The pattern in every source is two shows each year: one on the second Saturday of June and one on the second Saturday of October. The June edition is the original dating to 2008 by the organisers’ account, and the October edition was added a few years later, with both now mixing art and crafts.

When is the next Randolph County Alabama Art on the Median Festival?

The next edition follows the standing second-Saturday pattern. The only specific future date carried in the sources checked is the listed June 13, 2026 date for the June show, and the October show falls on the second Saturday of its month by the magazine’s account. Checking the current listing before travelling remains the sensible step, since no organiser-published date was found.

Will the dates change?

The second-Saturday placement in June and October is described as the standing pattern in the magazine’s coverage, and the June listing follows it exactly, which suggests stability rather than drift. Nothing in the sources checked announces a change, but because dates rest on organiser announcements, confirming the specific Saturday for any given year is still worthwhile.

The median in downtown Wedowee has carried this show since 2008 by its organisers’ account, twice a year, in June sunshine and October cool. Whether you come for a particular maker’s work, for the scholarship cause behind the stalls, or simply to see a main street given over to handmade things, the Randolph County Alabama Art on the Median Festival rewards the trip — and it leaves the middle of town looking better than it found it.