The Beaufort County Arts Council’s 47th-annual Fine Arts Show is set for Thursday through Saturday at the Washington Civic Center.

The show will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is free.

The history of the Fine Arts Show predates the arts council itself.

What began as the creation of a fine-arts category at the Beaufort County Fair in the early 1960s has become one of the region’s most anticipated art exhibits.

Over the years, the Fine Arts Show has exhibited outdoors near Haven’s Wharf, Washington Square Mall and the Atlantic Coastline warehouse before its renovation in the mid-1980s. Today, and for the past 20-plus years, the Fine Arts Show has been held in the historic Civic Center.

Today, PotashCorp will host the gala preview party for arts council members, artists and guests at the Civic Center from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Prior to that, at 7 p.m., patrons who have signed up to participate in the guaranteed-sales portion of the Fine Arts Show will have the opportunity to choose and purchase work.

Visitors to the Fine Arts Show will be able to register to win an original work by Wilmington, Del., artist Nan Jackson.

Jackson is the sister of Washington native Bet Archie.

The piece is titled “John Havens Moss Warehouse & Wharf” and is valued at $500. Chances are available for $1 each or six for $5.

Crawford Alexander Mann III, juror for the Fine Arts Show, will hold a juror’s critique Friday beginning at 7 p.m.

Artists and the general public are invited to attend this component of the Fine Arts Show. The critique is free to all.

The Fine Arts Show is held in conjunction with the Smoke on the Water festival on Saturday on the Washington waterfront.

For more information about the Fine Arts Show or other programs, call the arts council at 252-946-2504 or visit it on the web at www.beaufortcountyartscouncil.org.

Business hours and Lane Gift Shop and Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays in the train depot on the corner of Main and Gladden streets. Visitors are welcome throughout the year.