A little less than a week before the festival officially begins, members of the local community came out and joined organizers in celebrating the 25 years of arts and culture brought to Dowagiac by the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival Friday.

The festival hosted a special gala celebrating its milestone anniversary at Southwestern Michigan College that evening, with visitors enjoying wine, food and live music. They also had a chance to peruse some photos, posters and programs from past festivals, as well as have their portrait drawn by a couple artists in residence that evening.