History of the Norway Arts Festival:

In 1962, Lajos Matolcsy formed an arts organization, the Western Maine Art Group. The original members included Lajos's students Lee Bean, Anne Beyer, Ellie Viles, and Marion Stewart. The group met at the Matolcsy home in South Paris.

By 1966, the group had expanded beyond the home of its founder and began to look for a permanent home. At the same time, the towns of Norway and Paris were working towards a school consolidation which would leave an old one-room schoolhouse on Main Street in Norway available for other uses.

The group seized the opportunity. After some negotiations and with the help of the Town of Norway, they were able to purchase the school, which to this day remains the home of the Western Maine Art Group (WMAG).

Norway Arts Festival roots are deep. In 1967, the WMAG created an art show that started a tradition of a summertime public arts festival along the historic Main Street of Norway know as the Sidewalk Art Festival.