Deep Ellum Art Festival, Brush lettering and the weekend that went by

Even though I am supposed to be on a gluten free, sugar free diet the whole month of April (I am getting my body ready for summers or at least trying to), I have allowed myself certain cheat days this entire month.

While spring in Dallas means hotter days, it also means tons of festivals and a lot of them food related. And this being our first time here in Dallas, I do not want to miss any of them! I know I could stick to the diet and just mindfully eat at the festivals but the Deep Ellum Art Festival this last Sunday had funnel cakes. I rest my case.

The Deep Ellum Art festival is a 3-day long free-for-all street festival held every year in April, showcasing works from 200 plus decorative and visual artists, 100 original bands and singer/songwriters performing, a Pet Parade, and lots of food and drinks.

We attended the festival on its last day, and missed the pet parade but it was fun nonetheless. I also took my first Brush Lettering Class on Sunday with Alli K Design and loved learning a new art. I am still horrible at it but I plan to get better.

Macarons and banana muffins at our brush lettering class with Alli at West Elm

One of Alli’s work which we got to keep.

The beautiful set up for our class at West Elm, Dallas

 

After the workshop, V and I went to the Truck Yard on Sears st.

I did stick to my gluten free diet here and ordered a Jambalaya. We also had a few drinks and I cheated with freshly made beignet from Cajun Tailgaters. The beignet was the best part of our meal. Even V who is not fond of such stuff enjoyed it.

Chicken and Sausage jambalaya from Cajun tailgaters

Chicken Sandwich from Not Just Q

Mojitos!

In the evening we went to the Deep Ellum Art festival. The moment I entered I regretted not attending the festival on all three days. There was so much food to try and one evening was not enough. The music and the crowd provided a great background to the food we ate. Besides the funnel cakes and drinks, we tried the gyros at the festival. I wanted to eat the corn dogs and crepes, but there is only so much that a person can eat. So I stuck to the lamb gyros which were delicious.

V’s chicken gyro

Gyros in the making

Curly fries <3This is what happens when you design a sign board when you are drunk.

Did not get to try  these but saw a lot of people eating candied apples and enjoying them. I wish I had two stomachs just for this festival.

S’mores crepes and Banana Strawberry nutella crepes. Maybe a third stomach just for these!

Sprinkling sugar on our funnel cake. And corn dogs!

Our funnel cake. Sugar!!

While the food was MY main focus, the festival was really about the artists. And what a talented bunch they were. A lot of them did not allow photography, but I did manage some shots. Besides the works of various different media artists there were also a lot of street performers and different bands performing , bringing life to the whole festival.

I was thinking of getting these and hanging at out door outside with an “Enter at your Own Risk” sign under it.

Free art lessons.

A bench made out of bottle caps. Absolutely brilliant!

One of these days I am going to get my face painted.

Street Band

Stage performers

More music!

And that was our weekend that went by.

I am sharing a list of events that I plan to go to in case you need help planning your weekends in Dallas. If you are in the Dallas area, do message me in case there is something I am missing out. Would love to know!

• April 7th : Savor Dallas : Arts District Garden party and Sweet Heat
• April 10th : Urban Street Bazaar at Bishop Arts District
• April 16th-17th- Madras Market
• April 23rd – Kwestival at Klyde Warren park