Waterloo Center for the Arts hosts Holiday Arts Festival

By McKenzie Diehl on December 8, 2025

The Holiday Arts Festival was started over 50 years ago. It is an indoor event that happens yearly at the Waterloo Center of the Arts. In 2010, the festival started happening two days on Saturday and Sunday. The average attendance is 2,500-3,000.

Darrell Tayler, a creator and assistant director of the Waterloo Center of the Arts, said, “This was only my second year helping. I have only been with the center for less than two years. Before that, I ran the art gallery and the art collection at the University of Iowa.”

The event happened Nov. 8-9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival was free to enter, but original handmade art was for sale, including paintings, jewelry, photography, ceramics and concessions. There were 45 artists with booths this year.

A lot of people worked together to make this event and others possible. Tayler said, “I manage the event with the committee and the staff here. We organize all the different things that happened, including what kinds of food is going to be offered and the musicians that are going to play. I organize all the artists and mark out where their booths are going to be. I work with a design team to publish the event.”

Many events happen at the Waterloo Center of the Arts, Tayler said. “We have our ongoing expedition series. We also have our Fiesta event in the summer for Latino audiences. We have our Chroma 63 art and sound events. We also have our STEM and Stein fundraiser.”

Tayler said that a favorite memory he has is “the first time I managed the holiday festival, learning that we get to go pick out some artwork from the artists who are exhibiting and are selling their works in the art festival, that we could purchase some works for our collection here at the center. “

For those who’d like to attend the festival next, the Waterloo Center of the Arts is located off of Commercial St and W 1st St in Waterloo. Here is a link to directions of the Waterloo Center For The Arts. Here is a link to their website, Waterloo Center For The Arts.