Vero Beach would be Goldilocksâ favorite Florida city. Itâs just right. Lively enough to always have something going on, but not so busy it takes all day to get across town.
The frost proof weather brings residents and visitors outdoors to its magnificent stretch of beach, the Indian River Lagoon and the nationâs first National Wildlife Refuge founded to provide protected habitat for pelicans which were being hunted near to extinction at the turn of the 20th century for the use of their feathers in ladiesâ hats.
The Vero Beach arts community takes advantage of the outdoors as well, hosting its signature event, the annual Under The Oaks Fine Arts & Craft Show March 10, 11 and 12, 2023, at shady Riverside Park, literally, under the oaks alongside the Indian River. The 72nd edition of the show will again bring more than 200 juried artists from around the nation and some 50,000 attendees to town for the prestigious event.
This is a fine art fair. You wonât find bouncy houses and face painting for the kids. You will find top contemporary artists selling their work across seven categories: graphics, pastels, drawing, collage and printmaking, jewelry, oil, acrylic and watercolor, photography and digital art, pottery, ceramics and glass, and sculpture, sculptural mixed-media and wood. Artists will be on site in their booths and welcome guests to ask them questions about their pieces.
âI’ve been going to art festivals all over the country for a long time, my first time walking through Under the Oaks, I quickly knew it was my favorite festival I’ve been to,â Adam Conard, Co-Chair Under the Oaks, told Forbes.com. âThe combination of strictly fine art in a truly beautiful and natural setting makes for a unique and memorable experience much different than other âstreetâ festivals I’ve been accustomed to.â
Under the Oaks also serves a good cause as the Vero Beach Art Clubâs largest annual fundraiser. The non-profit club has been in existence since 1936 serving the local arts community through education, scholarships, events and more.
Riverside Park stays busy year-round hosting a variety of events including a Gardenfest, classic car show, a Pirate Festival and an orchid show and sale. This part of Florida, known as the Treasure Coast for the number of shipwrecked Spanish galleons laden with gold and treasure just off its shores, is a haven for festivals including some of the more unusual youâll find anywhere like the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival, a Lionfish Fest and a Fairy & Pirate Festival, because one pirate festival just wonât do. There are festivals for seafood, hibiscus and waterlilies.
Adjacent to Riverside Park, the Vero Beach Art Museum presents a continually rotating schedule of special exhibitions in addition to its permanent collection.
Art lovers will want to be sure they connect with the Florida Highwaymen while in the area. The original 26-member group of African American landscape painters sold their vibrant images of rural Florida to a booming population from the trunks of their cars along U.S. Highway 1 paralleling the Atlantic coast from the late 1950s through 1980s. They went direct to consumer because segregation kept them out of art galleries. They painted fast and sold their work cheap, in great volume, to support themselves and their families.
Small Fort Pierce, one town south of Vero Beach, was the epicenterâas much as any such thing could be for the group that was not formally associated. The A.E. Backus Museum there shares their story and artwork.