Congratulations, Borough!
The Stonington Borough Art Walk has become the anchor for September in the Village, and the eighth edition, held Saturday September 12, made a strong case for why. Water Street closed to traffic from Broad Street down to Cannon Square and filled instead with more than 60 artists working across ten genres — oil and watercolor painting, illustration, photography, textiles, pottery, sculpture, printmaking, jewelry, and woodwork — in tents along the street and tucked into the Borough's courtyards and storefronts.
What changed this year was sound. Porchfest Stonington made its inaugural debut from noon to 4 p.m., presented by La Grua Center in partnership with the Stonington Borough Merchants Association, the Stonington Village Improvement Association, Salt Marsh Opera, and the Stonington Cultural District Commission, placing live performers on historic porches and in gardens along Water and Main streets between Wadawanuck and Cannon squares. Pairing a walking art fair with music you happen upon rather than sit down for is a shrewd piece of event design. It gives visitors a reason to linger past their second pass down Water Street, and it draws foot traffic outward from the densest run of booths. It also earned Stonington a place in the statewide Porchfest conversation in its first year out.
Merchants, galleries, restaurants, and nonprofits mounted their own open houses, exhibits, and pop-ups alongside the booths — a detail that keeps this event from feeling like a craft fair parachuted into a quaint seaside village. Admission remains free, and the town has positioned the Art Walk as the centerpiece of a broader effort to build out its arts economy.
Congratulations to everyone involved who made this the most memorable Art Walk yet!
