History of the Art Festival

The DeLand Outdoor Art Festival was founded in 1965 by Joe Elliott President, and Virginia Clausen Vice President. At that time the festival started out on the sidewalks of down town DeLand. In 1971 Joe Elliott stepped down as President, Virginia was elected President and remained President till her retirement in 1999 where she, Flo Perro & Pat Moyer became our senior advisors.

In 2000, Virginia's son Tom Clausen was elected President, his wife Patty was elected Vice President and remain the coordinators of the oldest family run art festival in DeLand's history. Ann Pascoe, joined the ladies in 1969 and remained registrar until she retired in 2013. Anna passed away very peacefully March 7, 2015 at the young age of 99 3/4 she would have been 100 on June 18th.

In the mid 70's the festival moved to the parking lot of the Barnett Bank building which is now known as the Bank of America on the corner of Wisconsin Ave. and Woodland Blvd. In the early 80's the festival moved once again the its present location Earl Brown Park located at 750 S. Alabama Ave. DeLand.