I didn’t realize my mistake until it was almost too late.

My first Medal Day was in 2010. We had lived in Peterborough for six years by then, and while I knew about the magical place where Thornton Wilder had written much of “Our Town,” I had never been to MacDowell’s free public celebration.

There was always a terrible reason for not visiting on the one day a year MacDowell is open to the public for the conferring of a prestigious medal on an artistic great. I didn’t know anything about the medalist; the kids were too young; my tomatoes needed tending; the kids were too old and had something else planned; or, finally, why make myself — an aspiring writer of novels and short stories — crazy with jealousy over the real artists who occupied MacDowell studios?

But in 2010, I read that Sonny Rollins would be receiving the Edward MacDowell Medal. The man behind “The Bridge” was coming to Peterborough to accept the medal?! I marked Medal Day on the calendar and plans were hatched with new friends.

My mistake? Waiting to attend the annual event until the medal was being awarded to one of my own musical heroes.

My love of jazz had been instilled early. From my father’s playing of big band records to exploring jazz as a college radio DJ, I could never get enough of it. And while I learned more about Rollins, perhaps my biggest saxophone hero, from Medal Day guest speaker and MacDowell Fellow Gary Giddins, I loved his brief and heartfelt acceptance speech for the medal. But I wasn’t prepared for what happened afterward.

There are 31 studios on the grounds, and for Medal Day, almost all of them shelter artists who’ll show you what they’re working on for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. I could have left satisfied after listening to Giddins’ and Rollins’ moving oratories, and the post-ceremony performance of Rollins’ music by The Fred Hersch Trio, but I got smart at my wife’s suggestion, and we packed in an array of studio visits before calling it a day.

I got to see the work of a Japanese photographer who places herself in fantastical scenes, talked to a playwright working on an exciting first commission, met a composer experimenting with interactive electronics and watched footage of a developing dance performance.

Within a couple hours, we barely scratched the surface of the surfeit of examples of creativity going on at MacDowell every day, all year long.

So, if you are waiting to hear that MacDowell is awarding the medal to your favorite artist of all time, I am here to tell you that you’ll be missing out on learning about all sorts of amazing art as it’s being created. Where else can you do that?

So, get smart and go to MacDowell on Medal Day no matter who is receiving the prize. You’ll never walk away thinking you should have stayed home to tend to your tomatoes.

Jonathan Gourlay is the senior manager of external communications at MacDowell. He has been there since 2013.