Montevallo Artwalk is held on a Saturday in late October. The event includes art, food, fun & activities for all ages.

The Montevallo Artwalk is a collaborative effort by the City of Montevallo, the Montevallo Arts Collaborative (formerly Montevallo Arts Council) and the University of Montevallo. Each organization contributes time, talent, and other resources to make the event happen. 

During the Artwalk, artists line our Main Street businesses  with a variety of artworks including, but not limited to: sculpture, paintings, photography and functional art. Residents within the town walls and far beyond flood the streets to enjoy the street party atmosphere. Many of the local businesses will provide wine and light refreshments for their guests! Some businesses also provide performance entertainment ranging from artists creating works in front of the store, to piano playing, to face painting and even hands-on art opportunities for visitors. 

We are a town full of amazing talent, natural beauty, interesting people, unique businesses, a solid Main Street structure and volumes of potential. Montevallo is rapidly being known as an artists’ community and we want to continue to nurture that reputation! 
 

Why this event? Why downtown Montevallo?

This event will serve as a street celebration with the dual mission of drawing attention to our downtown businesses and showcasing Montevallo’s amazing pool of talent to the broader community of Shelby County, Bibb County, Chilton County and beyond. The vision is that the Artwalk will increase business revenues in town, encourage University students to spend their weekends in Montevallo and bring the community closer together—all in the name of art!
 

How it started:

Artwalk started in 2011, as the brainchild of Mayor Hollie Cost, Dee Woodham (former city council) and Dr. John W. Stewart III, president of the University of Montevallo. At that time, Cost was the Coordinator of Service Learning at UM and a city council member. Woodham and Cost wanted to do an arts festival downtown and Stewart was looking for more events to keep students around on the weekends. So, the partnership began. It was formed as a collaborative effort between the University and the City. 

They then formed a planning committee with University and City individuals that Cost dubbed the Artwalk Posse. The MDCD (collaborative board formed by the City of Montevallo, Shelby County and the University of Montevallo) offered support establishing the event in the first two to three years. When Cost decided to run for mayor, she handed the leadership reigns over to Tiffany Bunt (one of the founding members of the Posse), keeping the direction of the event with someone who has ties with the University and with the City.

Under the direction of Bunt, the partnership grew to include the Montevallo Arts Collaborative, an organization whose mission is to support all of the arts in Montevallo. It became a cooperative effort between the three entities falling under the umbrella of the Montevallo Arts Council. We hope this partnership will continue for many years to come. Artwalk was held three times a year. With other arts initiatives in the communities, it was decided to keep the Halloween-inspired Artwalk - Art Stalk and discontinue the others in lieu of supporting the community’s other events.

After seven years coordinating, Bunt handed the reigns over to Emily Gill, the current leader. Gill has added Artwalk Pop-Ups in connection with other community events to carry forward the Artwalk experience throughout the year. The Art Stalk event in October remains the highlight!