Experience a day of family fun in the beautiful and tranquil surroundings of the Florida Botanical Gardens at the Diggin’ the Arts festival.

This new event will offer hands-on activities, displays, vendors, booths, music and refreshments on Sunday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Participate in the plein air — open air — painting competition. Registration for this free event is at 10 a.m. and the works, painted in the gardens, are judged at 3:30 p.m. First prize is $150, second prize is $100 and third prize is $75.  Visitors may watch the contestants in action as they paint beautiful garden scenes.

Enter a raffle to win a rain barrel, each decorated by one of the participating museums; tickets are $1 each or six for $5.

Several Pinellas County museums will offer hands-on activities during the festival.

• Get "Warholized" at the Leepa-Ratner Museum's Andy Warhol exhibit.
• Experience watercolor and pottery demonstrations by the Dunedin Fine Arts Center.
• Complete a color reproduction of Georgia O’Keefe’s “The Poppy” with the Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg.
• Make botanical sun catchers and learn about the Chihuly glass collection with the Morean Arts Center. 
• Learn about the Crochet Coral Reef with the Florida Craftsmen Gallery.

Get gardening and art tips during the festival. Learn about bonsai, orchid cultivation, sumie painting and Asian ink painting through demonstrations and horticultural programs offered during the festival. 

Patch will have a booth at the festival, too. Come up and say hi, and meet the members of the Patch team.

Guided tours of parts of the 150-acre Florida Botanical Gardens will be offered hourly, and there will be live music throughout the day.

For information about the Florida Botanical Gardens, visit www.flbg.org or call 727-582-2100. The gardens are at 12520 Ulmerton Rd., Largo.