The 53rd annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts will take place Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14 on the streets of downtown State College and the adjacent Penn State campus.
The Festival features the nationally recognized Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition, a juried gallery exhibition, Children and Youth Day, Street Painting, educational opportunities, music, dance and theatrical performances in a variety of outdoor and indoor venues.
The 2019 Arts Festival commences with Children and Youth Day on Wednesday, July 10, which features programs and events designed especially for the young and young at heart. From 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. the Children & Youth Sidewalk Sale, sponsored by Penn State Federal Credit Union, will be held on South Allen Street. More than 250 young Central Pennsylvania artists are expected to showcase their original works.
Other Children and Youth Day activities include free arts and crafts activities on Penn State’s Old Main Lawn and in State College’s Sidney Friedman Park. Musical and dance performances tailored to the young will take place on two stages thanks to local student ensembles and performing arts schools. However, for some, the highlight of the day will come at 4:00 p.m. with the 2019 Centre Daily Times Children and Youth Day Grand Procession. Over 300 children (accompanied by some parents) will carry small, medium and large papier-mâché puppets, masks and drums. The procession will begin on the Old Main Lawn and travel through downtown State College as it makes its way to Sidney Friedman Park.
The Pat Farrell Community Sing Along will be on Wednesday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the State College Presbyterian Church. Young and old, those who can sing, and especially those who can’t, are invited to join Russell Bloom, Erik Clayton, and Leah Mueller as the community comes together to make some joyful noise. CPFA Performance Button Required
On Thursday, July 11, at 10:00 a.m. the award-winning Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition will open. Sidewalk Sale hours are 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. The works of more than 300 exhibitors comprise one of the nation’s best juried fine art and craft shows. A panel of five jurors will award over $17,500 in prize money to winning exhibitors during a ceremony at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 13, at the Allen Street Stage.
The 2019 Street Painting exhibition recognizes the cross-border popularity of street painting among Italy, England, and Germany. Due to the construction project on the former Garner Street parking lot, this year our street painters will be working on Foster Avenue at South Allen Street. A variety of local visual artists will create 6-foot by 4-foot paintings. For a $5 fee, Young Artists Alley gives children the opportunity to create a 14”x 14” square street painting. Painting ends at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 4 p.m. on Sunday, weather permitting.
The public is invited to celebrate the 53rd Festival by purchasing tickets to the Festive Spirits benefit party, which will be held at The Towers, 403 South Allen Street, on Friday, July 12, at 5:00 p.m. Bellefonte’s Big Spring Spirits will provide locally sourced spirits, with hors d’oeuvres by Catering with Style. Tickets to the party can be purchased by calling the Arts Festival office or by visiting arts-festival.com/festive-spirits-party.
The Festival’s fine art exhibition, Images 2019, will hang in Schlow Centre Region Library’s Betsy Rodgers Allen Gallery, 211 S. Allen Street, and Kish Bank Expect More Store, 114 S. Allen Street, during the month of July. Images 2019 is open to artists whose primary residence is in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The works in Images have been selected by juror Dr. Shannon Egan, director of Schmucker Art Gallery at Gettysburg College.
The 11th annual BookFest will take place on Saturday, July 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m in the BookFest tent, located in the library’s parking lot. Caricature artist Seth Young will be on hand to draw your likeness and capture your personality on paper. This year more than twenty different authors will be meeting fans and signing books in the BookFest tent. For more information go to arts-festival.com/bookfest.
Experience Harold Lloyd’s silent film, The Kid Brother, accompanied by a virtual theatre organ, an instrument developed by accompanist Ben Model. The virtual theatre organ uses an assemblage of keyboards and digital technologies to bring movies by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to twenty-first century theatres. Ben Model performs in The State Theatre on Friday, July 12 at 8:30 p.m. CPFA Performance Button Required
The acoustic-duo Ryanhood got its first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. It was there that they were spotted by a college booking agent and thrust into the college touring scene. They’ve since gone on to perform more than 1000 shows in 45 U.S. States over the past decade. Come out to the State College Presbyterian Church on Saturday, July 13 at 8:00 p.m. to catch their performance. CPFA Performance Button Required
Poor Man’s Gambit is a trio of traditional artists comprised of Corey Purcell, Federico Betti, and Deirdre Lockman. Building on their roots as traditional Irish musicians, the trio’s repertoire is also influenced by traditional music of other cultures including France, Scotland, England, and America. Poor Man’s Gambit will perform at the State College Presbyterian Church on Thursday, July 12 at 8:00 p.m. CPFA Performance Button Required
Greg Warren, most recently seen on Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show, and Comedy Central Presents, has built a strong fan base with an act inspired by his Midwestern upbringing. An honest mix of self-deprecation, frustration, and an arsenal of lifelike characters highlight Greg’s colorful perspective. Greg hails from St. Louis, where his father was a high school wrestling coach and his mother made him play clarinet in the band. He has captivated audiences with anecdotes about the conflict inherent in meshing the two disparate high school identities of varsity wrestler and band geek. Greg will bring his comedy act to the State Theatre on Friday, July 12 at 10:00 p.m. A ticket is required for this performance.
RPR is a band of contrasts, subtleties, humor, and the agility to go from full rampage to whisper in a heartbeat. The band brings a rare combination of poignancy and personality to the stage, crafting shows with tuneful music, touching stories, laughter, and astonishing vocal harmonies. Rob Ritchie, Al Parish, and Steve Ritchie were around when Tanglefoot won Best Vocal Group at the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Check out their performance on Saturday, July 13 at 7:00 p.m. on the Festival Shell Stage.
While most performances are free, some require a festival button. Buttons cost $10.00 for adults and are free for children ages twelve and under. They are good for the entire festival, and grant admission on a space available basis to selected indoor events. Buttons are available at each performance venue, at many locations on the Festival route, and in downtown State College stores.
The Nittany Valley Running Club’s 44th annual Sue Crowe Memorial Arts Festival Races will take place Sunday, July 14, starting at 8:15 a.m. The event comes in 5K & 10K distances. The Kids’ Fun Runs will start at 10:00 a.m. with distances of a quarter mile through a half mile for kids ages 12 and under. The Arts Festival Races are sponsored by Penn State Health. For registration and additional race information, please visit nvrun.com.
Leave parking and traffic worries to others by parking in the Jordan East parking lot, next to the Bryce Jordan Center and Beaver Stadium. For $5.00 a car, visitors may park and take a free bus operated by the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA). The bus will stop in the Festival zone at the corner of College and Hiester, with a second stop at the corner of College Avenue and South Allen Street.
The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Additional funding is provided through a grant made by possible by the Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and the Centre County Commissioners.