By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
The 2022 Double Decker Arts Festival is still a go.
The festival was canceled the last two years due to COVID-19. Despite, a sharp increase of new cases thanks to the omicron variant, the festival will be held on April 22-23 in its regular format.
Health officials have said that they believe that the number of new cases of COVID-19 will begin to decrease over the next few weeks.
Taking its name from the town’s authentic double-decker bus imported from England in 1994, the two-day festival has become a regional tourist attraction that brings in visitors from hundreds of miles away. Yet, it has also managed to retain the local festival vibe, and it’s still a place where people come each year to see familiar friendly faces, listen to great music, buy some one-of-a-kind art and sample Oxford’s well-known food offerings.
A community stage will be added to the festival to host local dance shows, martial arts demonstrations and other performances and displays by local businesses.
Artists can still apply for booths online until Jan. 24, and food vendors can also apply online until Jan. 31.
“We currently have about 140 art vendors who have applied,” Stubbs said. “I expect to have about 200 (applying) at the end of the sign-up period.”
This will be the 25th anniversary of the festival.
Visit Oxford will be holding a press conference at 10 a.m. on Feb. 3 at the Oxford Conference Center where the music line-up will be announced as well as the official artwork.
