Just days before the 17th annual Arts Alive! festival was set to go live on the main street of Langley, Teri James' phone was still ringing.

At the 11th hour, more artists were still pleading to be part of the giant outdoor exhibition being held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 21.

"It's just huge this year... people keep phoning and phoning. I'm going to have to get creative here," said James, the event organizer and coordinator for the Downtown Langley Merchants Association. "It's out of control."

Last year's show was the biggest yet with 93 exhibitors participating. This year, the number had already surpassed 150, and was still growing before press deadline.

"It may even have to be extended further down the one-way," James said, walking along the eastern portion of Fraser Highway's one-way strip and looking for any extra space she could confiscate to squeeze in more artists.

"Artists only tell artists about the good shows, and word is spreading like wildfire about Langley's Arts Alive!" James said, admittedly stunned by the response.

"I think it's fair to say Arts Alive! is starting to gain momentum amidst the arts community. It's developing a very good reputation," James said.

"There are a lot of returning artists, which I take to be a good thing because they love it here. Plus there's all the new ones clamouring to be part of the event."

In addition to the traditional painters and photographers who have been with the show since its inception, there is a growing diversity of art forms being incorporated into the one-day show.

This year, there will be leather goods, pottery, sculpture, jewelry, wood carvings, quilts, custom-made purses, and a myriad of other creative artistic pieces. James even pointed to unique spoon-and-fork jewelry, and some Yugoslavian decorations made out honey bread - yes bread - that will be on sale.

Not only do more than 100 artists plan to exhibit and sell their works this weekend, but many of them will also be working onsite, offering demonstrations or customizing pieces.

While the majority - about 70 per cent - of the artists are from Langley, new and returning exhibitors are also signed up from Mission, Bowen Island, North Vancouver, the B.C. Interior and Vancouver Island.

While Arts Alive! is not exclusive to artist and artisans, James said that remains the mainstay of the festival. But the event is designed to profile both visual and performing arts, and thanks to the stage and street performers, as well as the theatre company, that component of the festival is expanding all the time, too.