Art March to return for second year in Ferndale

FERNDALE — After what the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority felt was a successful first year, it is bringing back its monthlong celebration of art.

Downtown Ferndale’s Art March will be coming back next month starting March 1 and continuing through March 29. Partnered with the Ferndale Arts & Beautification Commission, Art March will feature a plethora of programming aimed to showcase the city’s art and community.

Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Jennie Beeker said the first year of Art March in 2025 had a great response from the public and felt in line with what people associate with Ferndale and its arts and creative scene.

“From our arts and creative perspective, we see a lot of folks that come for the murals, they come for our culinary scene, they come for the really just creative feel that you get in Ferndale,” she said. “It fits right in line with what people see all year long. So, it’s a … celebration throughout the month of March, and we saw some really new, creative expressions of what people consider when they think of art … paired with some of our businesses doing artist talks like pop-up events, workshops. So, it’s really back by popular demand.”

After a successful first year for Art March, Beeker said they increased the number of large public events this year and are looking to hold a larger closing event as well.

Beeker also found that people really looked forward to doing something in the month of March after the winter season.

“We had a difficult winter last year as well. Folks are looking forward to something before spring gets here,” she said. “One of the things that we’ve learned and improved upon is doing more events within our businesses. So we’ve got more ideas out there and we’ve got more collaborations that we’re really excited about. So it’s exciting to see — from what some of the businesses saw last year — what they’re doing to incorporate art in their day-to-day operations.”

Art March will start with an opening reception from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 1, at 215 West, located at 215 W. Nine Mile Road. Other featured events include a Common Ground art show from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 6, in the community arts gallery space at First Merchants Bank, 22635 Woodward Ave.

There also will be public art walks, hands-on workshops, pop-up art installations, interactive games, information sessions and gallery crawls. The closing show will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 29, at the Ferndale Area District Library, 222 E. Nine Mile Road.

Amanda Koss, a professional artist for eight years out of Macomb Township, will be running the art gallery in the bank.

Koss said the exhibit will have 17 to 20 artists featured in the show who live, work or create in the city of Ferndale.

“I wanted to feature as many artists as possible within different mediums. We have fiber artists, digital painters, photographers and I think there might be a sculptor artist as well,” she said. “I love the city of Ferndale — always have — and one of the best parts about it was being able to work with all the artists and being a part of the community.”

For more information on Art March, visit artmarchferndale.com.

“We’re excited about it,” Beeker said. “We just see this as, again, being a great way to showcase downtown Ferndale with us for a lot of different reasons. So we’re really excited to bring it back and hope to continue to build on it year over year.”