HARD TO BELIEVE it’s been 50 years. What once was a small art show in a wooded park has grown to feature 300 artists from around the country representing 19 different disciplines, live entertainment and food and beverage options. The Bayou City Art Festival, produced by the Art Colony Association, Inc., returns to Memorial Park for its 50th anniversary. The weekend-long event (March 25-27, 10am-6pm) benefits six local nonprofit partners, and this year’s fest ushers in new and interactive happenings for the whole fam.

As the nation’s premier spring outdoor art festival, Bayou City Art Festival welcomes guests to meet hundreds of artists, view original works, and purchase one-of-a-kind art, prints, jewelry, sculptures, functional art, and more. This year’s featured artist is Daryl Thetford, a mixed-media artist from Chattanooga, Tenn. Country singer Charlie Harrison with Charlie & The Regrets and alternative R&B artist Sha Davis are among the musical performers taking the stage throughout the weekend.

The three-day festival also features a food-truck park, a craft-beer and wine garden, roaming entertainment, beverage stations (one is a Stella Artois airstream!), and the “Active Imagination Zone,” with giant bubbles, a caricature artist and more, for kids and those young at heart.

Don’t miss the new La Crema Experience: a world-class pop-up pouring the wines of Sonoma County, California-based La Crema Winery. In addition to wine sampling, interactive touch points will enlighten visitors to learn more about the winemaking practices behind these distinct, approachable wines. Visitors are encouraged to hang out in the space with friends, play tabletop games, and snap photos in the larger-than-life wine-bottle photo booth. It’s Instagram ready!

La Crema pop-up

Bubble fun for the kids

Want more? For the ultimate art lover, there’s a limited availability VIP Hospitality Lounge presented by Frost Bank — a tented oasis which will include complimentary light bites, beer, wine and other refreshments. The relaxing setting will feature live music, artistic décor, a phone-charging station, and more. VIPs will receive all-day access to the VIP area for the festival date that their $60 ticket has been purchased, along with VIP parking and complimentary parking shuttle passes. Considering there’s no on-site parking at the festival, it’s not a bad deal! To purchase VIP tickets, click here.

But it’s not all fun and games: The Bayou City Art Festival has raised more than $3.6 million for nonprofits in the Greater Houston area, and has provided a venue for 20,000 (and counting!) national and international artists to showcase their work to thousands of art lovers from all over the world.