More artists, activities for children, and participation from local service organizations were the highlights of last weekend’s Downtown Arts Festival, held at Westside Park in Champaign. The festival is in its second year, and festival organizer Kristi Bolton said she hopes to keep improving the quality each year.

“We have 28 more artists this year, and we solicited help from different community organizations to attract some attention,” said Bolton, the special events coordinator for the Champaign Park District. In addition to traditional art booths, the fair included games and inflatable slides for children, and a booth sponsored by the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts where children could make their own guitar.

After last year’s festival, Bolton and other Park District employees held a meeting with local artists to evaluate how the fair could be improved. Michael Schwegmann, owner of Boneyard Pottery, attended the meeting and suggested the show try to attract more local artists, but also include quality artists to contribute to the success of the show.

“Everyone measures success differently,” Schwegmann said. “You don’t necessarily have to sell a lot of art to be successful. If the show were to grow too quickly, we might sacrifice quality for financial success.”

Schwegmann makes high-fire porcelain pottery, which he considers both functional and stylish. He attended the festival because he wanted to show that he thought it was a quality event.

“I’ve been making art in the area for a long time, and hope people will continue to support events like this,” he said. “If better people come, it will be a better show and more people will be willing to come learn about the art and buy the art. That will attract more good artists, so it’s kind of a cyclical thing.”

Rusty and Ron Watson, a couple from Mount Vernon, Ill., attended the festival for the first time this year. Their business, Down Memory Lane, sells original oil paintings, as well as smaller items such as hand painted greeting cards and bookmarks. They have been selling arts in central and southern Illinois for years and were happy to see a new art festival that had a good location and was easy to get into.

“There are a lot of really well-established juried art shows that you have to do well in one year to get into the show the next year,” Rusty Watson said. “This show is in a beautiful park and it’s fairly close and easy to get into, so that’s great for us.”

Ron Watson said that he would like to come back to the festival again next year.

“The season for showing art is limited, so it’s good to have six to eight good shows to go to each year,” he said.

About 3,500 people attended the show last year, and Bolton expected more this year.