Family Arts & Barks Festival Sponsorship

Each year, through the generous support of our sponsors, we expand our offerings and reach out to residents of Mathews and the Middle Peninsula with opportunities for artistic expression and arts appreciation. In years past, our Family Art Festival has been one of our most well attended, popular, and recognized community events. 

In 2025, we built on past years' experiences and partnered with Canine Companions to rebrand our yearly art festival as the Family Arts & Barks Festival, which was held in The Bay School Backyard on June 21.  The day's festivities included a variety of art and craft activities and family-friendly games for children, adults, and their dogs. Live entertainment, food and beverage vendors, and dog-themed art and vendors also were featured. 

We are very excited to evolve this festival and partner with Canine Companions and expand the festival to include activities relevant to their cause.

Canine Companions (a 501©3 organization, www.canine.org) is a new neighbor in Mathews. They are the largest Service Dog organization in the United States: raising, training, and placing fully trained Service Dogs with persons with disabilities and Facility Dogs with professionals in education, healthcare, and criminal justice settings. The dogs are placed free of charge to the recipient. Sponsorships, donations and fundraisers, such as the Family Arts & Barks Festival, further the mission of Canine Companions. 

Learn more about our 2025 Family Arts & Barks Festival and see the pictures from this year's event.

As we look forward to another successful festival in 2026, we'd once again like to extend a big THANK YOU to our 2025 festival sponsors for making this year's event a tremendous success!