Sturgis Downtown Development Authority’s Art Around Town Silent Auction and Winter Wine Down event is back for the third year in a row, and promises live music, wine specials, and local art for sale this Friday, March 24. 

Located in downtown Sturgis, Open Door Gallery will open its doors at 5:30 the night of the event for the public to place bids on local art, which has been displayed on downtown buildings and posts for the past year. DDA Director Ryan Conrod said there are a total of 17 pieces, and they are 3 X 4 feet in size. “What we do is we take them down, we trim up the white space on them, and then during the silent auction we’ll have them displayed all over inside the open door gallery,” Conrod told Watershed Voice.

Each piece of art will have a numbered sheet of paper and the public can write down a dollar amount higher than the starting bid price of $30. Throughout the event, those who have placed bids are encouraged to stop by Open Door Gallery to check on the status of the bidding. “People are also allowed to call in to Open Door Gallery and place their bid on the phone, for those who can’t make the event or who are there at the beginning but want to call back later in the evening to see their bid is doing,” Conrod said.

All proceeds from the night’s auction will be split between the DDA and Open Door Gallery, a nonprofit co-op that Conrod said could “definitely use the funds.” There will also be information at the gallery for those artists interested in submitting an art piece to be displayed downtown for this year’s Art Around Town. 

In addition to the artwork available for bidding, Open Door Gallery will also be hosting two local winery vendors. Located in Paw Paw, B52 Winery celebrates the achievements of the first female aviators in World War II, naming each of their vintages after a different female pilot, and will be on site during the evening with samples of their product.

Wine About It, a White Pigeon winery, will provide cheese samples, charcuterie boards, and information about their location. There will also be live music from Marjorie Beryl Shelito, as well as a Sturgis-area ballet dancer who will be performing visual art in a display window of the gallery. Other live musicians featured throughout the night will be Ben Prowess at Sigrist Furniture, Mariah DeCloedt at Lowry’s Bookstore, Rhonda Harper at Fiebig’s Jewelry, Heidi Wolfe at Ascend Computer, Si Bheag Si Mhor at El Taco Loco, and Shelby Wagner at Inspired Finds.

There will be four food trucks onsite in the downtown area for those looking to grab a quick bite of food on the way to listen to live music or shop the gallery. Mamazzoni’s will be serving Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago dogs, meatball subs, and cheese tortellini with Italian sausage soup. Brewhouse Barbecue will have pulled pork, brisket, spare ribs, cheesy tators, and mac and cheese. For those looking for a “fair food” experience, Ibison Concessions will have options such as funnel cakes, elephant ears, corn dogs, and soft pretzels. Lastly, Papa Joe’s Grub-n-Go will feature smashburgers, tacos, Philly cheesesteaks, and pizza sandwiches. 

Family-friendly sports bar Wings Etc. will be serving wine specials such as $4 glasses of wine with options like Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Rose, Merlot, Moscato, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The establishment will also have strawberry-peach and raspberry sangrias for $5, which are stirred with fresh fruit and served over ice. Performing music throughout the evening will be musician and DJ Sweet Jonny Knox.

Conrod told Watershed Voice the event has grown over the last three years. Other years focused more primarily on the art auction at Open Door Gallery, but the DDA coordinated this year with fellow downtown businesses to open later and offer more incentives to encourage everyone to attend. “We hope everyone will come to the gallery and want to bid on the art, but we’re happy if they just come downtown and eat dinner, grab a drink from Wings, go into some of the businesses that are open, and listen to music,” Conrod said. “We just want to bring people downtown.”

Beca Welty is a staff writer and columnist for Watershed Voice.