As part of Art in the Park, Marietta will play host to the Annual ArtcarPalooza over Labor Day weekend. ArtcarPalooza is Georgia’s first artcar event and features a car show with fun, one-of-a-kind artcars plus classic customized, hot rod and low rider vehicles.

This family-friendly free event is on Atlanta Street just off the Marietta Square on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Patrons will be able to view artcars and mingle with the artists who created them.

ArtcarPalooza Charity Events, a nonprofit group, was formed to raise funds for charitable organizations while adding a zany and exciting twist to more conventional art genres in metro Atlanta. This year’s profits will be donated to Wounded Warrior Project. Artcars are the preferred canvas for some of America’s great contemporary folk artists, who express their visions on motorized vehicles, often transforming them into fantasy objects d’art.

“We anticipate ArtcarPalooza will become as popular as Houston’s artcar parade, which attracts more than 300,000 viewers every May,” said Rachel Bowen Frey. Michael Leidel, designer of “Marietta, The Gem City of Georgia,” along with Frey, are the event’s organizers. “With its popular First Friday Art Walk, Marietta Square has become the premiere locale to see and purchase quality art in the Atlanta area, and ArtcarPalooza will only add to that reputation,” she said.

Among those exhibiting their award-winning creations are Houston artists Bonnie Blue (“The Women Rock”) and Isaac Cohen (“Heroes”). Kentucky native Charles Laster, who curated artcars for the 2012 Artscape Festival in Baltimore, will display his “space ship” Inner-Galactic-Shack-O-Llacc. Georgia artist Chris Hubbard, featured in Smithsonian magazine and on PBS, will show his “Heaven and Hell Car.”

“Some of the artcar artists at this inaugural event are the ‘Howard Finsters’ of the artcar world,” Bowen said, referencing the late artist and minister from Georgia.

ArtcarPalooza welcomes volunteers and sponsors. Donations are tax deductible. For more information, visit www.artcarpalooza.com or www.artparkmarietta.com.