Sponsored by Falls Church Arts: https://fallschurcharts.org
About The FESTIVAL
History of the Festival
The Festival is the brainchild of longtime Falls Church City resident and community leader Marty Behr. Marty had fond childhood memories of painting Halloween windows along the main street of her New Jersey hometown. The joy of seeing her own art up on a public window stayed with her for decades. After her children were grown, Marty began exploring how to bring that same joy to the kids and families of Falls Church City.
In 2008, Marty made that dream a reality by launching the Falls Church City Halloween Window Painting Festival. She credits the leader of a similar event in Lawrence, Kansas, for advising her on all of the details that went into making that first year's Festival (and those thereafter) a success. That first year, Marty persuaded a handful of merchants on Broad Street in downtown Falls Church City to volunteer their windows and corraled 8 members of her family and a few neighbors as window painters. From those humble beginnings, the Festival has ballooned into a beloved and much-anticipated annual community event, with hundreds of painters and dozens of local businesses participating.
Marty was an early member of local community arts nonprofit Falls Church Arts and, as the Festival expanded, Falls Church Arts adopted it as one of their signature community arts outreach events. After the 14th annual Festival in 2022, Marty turned over day-to-day leadership of the Festival to a Falls Church City family, who have been painting windows together in the Festival for nearly a decade. Marty continues to remain an active Board member of Falls Church Arts and an advisor to the Festival. For Marty, launching and running the Festival has been a true labor of love. She gets a huge kick out of seeing the delight on kids' faces not only while they are painting the windows, but also throughout the month of October as they show their windows off to friends and family.
About Falls Church Arts
The Festival is sponsored by Falls Church Arts. Since 2003, Falls Church Arts has focused on the visual arts, bringing opportunities to exhibit, learn, share, and experience art to the community. Exhibitions of emerging and professional artists have been at the heart of the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, but offered classes cater to all ages and skills. Outreach like the Halloween Window Painting Festival, Plein Air festival and Farmers Market booth engage the wider community. Falls Church Arts is supported by funding of its members and corporate donors and the community at large and has been the recipient of grants from the City of Falls Church’s CATCH Foundation and Arts Fairfax.
To learn more, go to https://www.fallschurcharts.org or visit the Falls Church Arts gallery at 700-B West Broad St. (Rte. 7), Falls Church, VA 22046.