The 22nd Dowagiac Dogwood Fine Arts Festival, beginning this Friday, features some of the best in fine arts in Southwest Michigan.
This year’s featured guests include novelist Nicole Krauss, storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin and folk icon Arlo Guthrie.
The festival runs from Friday to May 19 throughout Dowagiac.

• The festival begins with Nicole Krauss at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Dowagiac Middle School Performing Arts Center.
Krauss has been hailed by the New York Times as “one of America’s most important novelists.” In 2010, she was listed by the New Yorker as one of the “20 under 40” writers to watch. She is the author of the international bestsellers, Great House (2010), which was finalist for the National Book Award and the Orange Prize, and The History of Love (2005), which won the Saroyan Prize for International Literature and was short listed for the Orange, Medicis and Femina prizes. Her first novel, Man Walks Into a Room (2002), was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Bookof the Year. In 2007, she was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. Her fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire and Best American Short Stories, and her books have been translated into more than 35 languages.

• A family performance with storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Dale A Lyons Building Theatre at Southwestern Michigan College. Irwin is a native of Covington, Ga. He is a storyteller, humorist, singer, songwriter, musician, whistler, walking menagerie of sound effects and dialects, and so much more. Andy travels the country with educational programs and camps for children. The focus of these programs is literacy, storytelling, music, and being a steward of our environment.

• The festival ends on a high note with Arlo Guthrie’s “Here Comes the Kid” tour, a musical tribute to his father, Woody Guthrie. It is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., May 18 at the Dowagiac Middle Schools Performing Arts Center.  In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birth, this tour is a salute to Woody’s legacy,  music and immeasurable contributions to the landscape of American folk-music. This performance will be the last of this particular tour and your last chance to witness Guthrie performing Guthrie. Don’t miss this unique, musically significant event.
Other event highlights include:
• Caught in the Act, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday at the Dowagiac Area History Museum, 201 E. Division St. Visit three open air artist studios in a free interactive art experience.
• Klassics for Kids, 2 p.m. Saturday at Dogwood Festival Headquarters, 207 Commercial St. Experience a creative introduction to music designed for kids ages 3-12, featuring Lake Effect Winds.
• Dowagiac Area History Museum Grand Opening, 7:30 p.m., Monday at 201 E. Division St.
• Story Master Class, 7-9 p.m., Wednesday at Dogwood Festival Headquarters. A workshop on story and character creation, acting and presentation with Andy Offutt Irwin.
• Youth Fine Arts Night, 6 p.m., Dowagiac Union High School. This event showcases elementary, middle and high school student artwork and musical talents.
• Up Front Art Walk, May 10-19. This juried art show is displayed all day in downtown Dowagiac merchant windows on and adjacent to Front Street.
• Heddon Museum Tours, May 10-18, at Heddon Museum, 414 West St. Call (269) 782-5698 for hours.