Orange Beach In USA Today Top 20 Small Town Art Scene Contenders

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Orange Beach Festival Grounds

Freedom Fest music Stage

Little Mermaid play at Orange Beach Performing Arts Center

Voting has begun for America's Best Small Town Art Scene. Orange Beach, Alabama selected as a finalist.

Orange Beach has it all, music, art, the beach, concerts, festivals, great food, all in a safe, incredibly family-friendly town. We go every year!” - Maggie HayesORANGE BEACH, AL, UNITED STATES, February 11, 2025 /EINPresswire / -- Orange Beach, Alabama has long been a exciting tourist destination. The beaches, trails, and fresh seafood restaurants draw millions each year to the Gulf Coast. Over the years the city has become a hub for great arts and entertainment for both residents and visitors.
In recognition of the city-wide art focus, USA TODAY has selected Orange Beach as one of the country's best small-town arts scenes and the city is contending for first place among twenty candidates.

Orange Beach artistically has something for everyone:
Located on scenic Wolf Bay, the Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach is an extensive arts campus featuring an art gallery with juried artists from the Gulf Coast. Throughout the year, the campus hosts an acoustic arts music series, a world-class art festival that is also up for USA TODAY'S America's Best, a hot shop glass studio and a clay studio (with multiple resident artists), an educational center, an annual Veterans art competition, and three children's summer art camps. As a venue space they host up to 40 weddings a year along with charity benefits for veterans, abused women and children, and local civic programs. Strong community involvement in the non profit arts group "Friends of the Arts" helps present a gala that raises money for art student college scholarships.

The Frank Brown International Songwriters' Festival is held yearly and Orange Beach becomes Nashville South: hundreds of singer-songwriters with #1 hits perform at multiple venues and money raised goes to arts scholarships and showcase events for young musicians.

Freedom Fest is a celebration of America through music, a customized car show, art booths, and a children's art showcase. Proceed benefit veterans causes and children's causes.

The Wharf Amphitheater is a national-class venue that features prominent acts from around the world. Recent shows include Jelly Roll, James Taylor, Post Malone, Alison Krauss, Breaking Benjamin and others.

The Orange Beach Performing Arts Center has professional-level facilities and a cooperative program with the city school system's Expect Excellence Program. They present family-friendly performances of music and theater year-round.
The Seafood Festival is attended by tens of thousands and is rife with music, art booths, cars, kid's art, and more. Proceeds from this, one of the largest one-day events on the Gulf, benefits the school system.

The Orange Beach Festival of Art is consistently ranked among the best in the nation and they will celebrate 51 years in 2025. Fine artists from across America are jury-selected yearly and the show is one of the most competitive and sought-after in the country. One such recent festival Best of Show winner, Mr. Larry Allen, had his intricate clay vessels selected to be shown in Disney's "Wakanda Forever" movie. Other artists have won awards both nationally and internationally in a variety of mediums.

Show Director Desiree Hodge notes, "With our focus on presenting truly gifted and professional fine artists, this Alabama art festival has garnered an excellent reputation among both artists and visitors, and patrons of all types can find quality, fun and affordable original art." The festival has earned top honors from various media sources and continues to expand it's show offerings.
Finally, the city has begun a public art initiative with two beautiful pieces installed, a third almost complete and more in the works.

The city of Orange Beach truly believes in the arts and supports artistic efforts by its residents and visitors alike. All of this has given them a well earned spot in the USA TODAY contest.

You can vote here...

City of Orange Beach
Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach
251-981-2787
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Orange Beach Art Gallery

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