The addition of a jazz festival and film festival will bring an added dimension to this year’s Troy Fest.

The popular arts festival, which takes place the last weekend in April, brings renowned artists from across the South to downtown Troy for two days. For years, we have enjoyed the works of potters and portrait artists, painters and crafters, stained glass artists and jewelers, metal crafters and more.

Now, organizers of the committee are branching out and embracing more of the arts.

The jazz festival, which was introduced on a smaller scale last year, will be brought back by the Troy Arts Council and expanded and will feature Troy University’s No. 1 big band and artist Jilla Wibb of Nashville.

The film festival will feature a variety of different films, from documentaries to off-beat titles, and will run throughout the evening on in the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center.

By reaching out to expand these other areas of the arts, Troy Fest continues to expand and grow, celebrating the cultural diversity of our community helping to open world of arts to our community.

Troy Fest, and all that it encompasses, is important to our community. Not only does it bring tourists and shoppers to our community, bringing sales tax revenue to our economy, but it also promotes Troy and this area as a culturally rich community that nurtures and appreciates the arts. Moreover, it helps bring the world of the arts to our community, young and old alike, and introduces an appreciation of the works and the artists. And that is an important aesthetic to develop.

We’re glad to see Troy Fest continue to grow and develop, and we’re looking forward to the activities to come this year.