One of Cape Coral’s oldest and most anticipated events is coming back next weekend.

The Rotary Club of Cape Coral will hold its 28th annual Cape Coral Festival of the Arts Saturday, Jan. 12, and Sunday, Jan. 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Cape Coral Parkway, between Del Prado and Vincennes boulevards.

The festival is expected to bring in as many as 100,000 people downtown, which means a huge boon for businesses at or near the festival area.

The event, which started in 1985 at Jaycee Park with 150 artists, has grown into one of Southwest Florida’s largest art shows, showcasing the works of more than 300 juried artists and artisans featuring fine art, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, photography, metal works, mixed media and more.

John Jacobsen, who has organized the arts festival for the Rotary Club since its inception, said it has mushroomed since moving it downtown, which was a monumental challenge at the time, as there were no festivals and the thought of closing Cape Coral Parkway downtown was unheard of.

“One of the best ways of getting people to know an event is going on is to put the event on Main Street,” Jacobsen said. “We went from getting 15,000 to 20,000 people to 100,000.”

With the increased foot traffic on Cape Coral Parkway, those businesses in and around the festival area stand to benefit tremendously, especially the restaurants and boutiques.

“What I’d love to see during the event is the many visitors who come say they had no idea there were so many great businesses in South Cape,” said CRA Economic Development Director Helen Ramey. “Residents will find more than 60 dining and entertainment establishments within a short walking distance.”

“This gives businesses a shot in the arm and get other businesses to move in and hopefully put on events like this and more,” Jacobsen said.

For those businesses at or near the festival, especially the locally owned ones, this is the equivalent of Black Friday. Most of them, particularly the restaurants, prepare for months to be ready for the weekend, Ramey said.

“Many of the restaurants offer outside seating and prepare extra things to make sure they can handle the crowd situation,” Ramey said. “The antique shops take out their statues, their bronzes and put them in front of their store. It’s their busiest days of the year.”

For businesses such as Zak’s Jewelers, there is more of a residual effect from the Arts Festival.

“It gives you an opportunity to meet more people in a shorter amount of time,” said Zak’s owner Thomas Rosanio. “We see people that come back after the festival because we were so busy then.”

Jacobsen said one of the big reasons the arts festival has been so successful is that it has something for the whole family.

“We have things for the kids and for families so they can look, learn and enjoy the arts,” Jacobsen said. “There’s something for everybody. It doesn’t cost anything and it brings something badly needed down here and that’s the arts.”

For more information on the Art Festival, call 699-7942 or visit www.capecoralfestival.com