Anna Beth Hirshfeld
Reporter

On Saturday, Oct. 31, Mississippi University for Women will host the 4th annual Under the Oaks Art Festival in collaboration with the Columbus Arts Council.

Since 2022, the Columbus Arts Council has invited local artists to showcase and sell their work at the festival, including students from The W’s Art Department. Each year, the event grows bigger with more vendors and patrons attending.

One artist that attendees can look forward to seeing is The W’s own Delia Lochala, an Art student at The W and a multitalented artist. Lochala has been a vendor since the first year of Under the Oaks, and she will be bringing several types of artwork to sell this year.

Delia Lochala working on a painting
Photo courtesy of Delia Lochala

“Primarily I do like large-scale oil paintings,” Lochala said. “However, for festivals and stuff, I’ll sell a couple of small paintings.”

Along with her paintings, she will be selling small drawings, prints, stickers, pins, keychains and more pieces done in different types of printing at her booth. This year she is excited to start selling relief-printed shirts as well.

While talking about the logistics of being a vendor for Under the Oaks, Delia shared that students from The W who vend don’t pay a booth fee to attend. She said that all the proceeds she makes go to her.

“Yeah, I keep all that money to get more supplies and stuff to make more stuff,” Lochala said.

For Lochala, the application process was quick and painless, just an online form that she completed in the summer. She noted the growth that Under the Oaks has seen since the first event in 2022, explaining that she was quick to get her application turned in because of the increasing competition for vendor spots.

“Which is a good sign that it’s expanding, more people are becoming a part of it,” Lochala said.

Over the years, she’s had success as a vendor at this event, making a comfortable profit on top of her material costs. Last year, she said her profits were double that of previous years.

She added that weather is a large factor in attendance and hopes that the weather this year is as good as last year and that people will be encouraged to come check it out. With this event coinciding with Halloween, she has high hopes that the holiday will increase patronage this year.

“It’s great, people need to come, it’s fun,” Lochala said. “This year, it’s gonna be, since it’s on Halloween, I think it’ll be more of an event, like a Halloween thing, too. Which I’m excited about, because I love Halloween.”

Aptly named for its position under the live oaks on The W campus, attendees can walk rows of stalls and listen to live music as they peruse the hand-made art pieces or stop by the food trucks. The festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with free admission.