Arts festival, stage plays and jazz series brighten the summer

The Bellingham Arts Festival will return this year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 31 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 1. The Chalk ArtFest will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 31.

New this year, the festival will cover another block to allow over 20 more artists and food vendors. The festival will take over the 1200, 1300 and 1400 blocks of Cornwall Avenue in downtown Bellingham, and feature move than 60 Northwest artists, displaying works from pottery to fiber art to paintings.