Tying Us Together

At the end of May, we announced our 2020 Tying Us Together project. Although the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping us apart, we wanted something that would highlight how the bonds of love and friendship tie us together. And we couldn’t think of a better way to do that than with friendship bracelets, long a staple of the Festival’s Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale. 

Friendship bracelets are inexpensive, easy to make, and each one is as unique as the person who made it. They also remind us of how connected we are and how important our friends are. While you can make a bracelet by yourself, it’s difficult to tie it on your own wrist. Having a friend do that makes life so much easier.

We’re inviting kids (of all ages!) to make friendship bracelets and give some of them to key people in their lives during our time of sheltering in place: teachers, grandparents, best friends, and so on. We request that everyone give their remaining bracelets to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. We’re selling them for a modest price at local stores, as well as our online store, to help support the Festival. We want to make sure that there is a Festival when we can all safely gather together again on South Allen Street.

Make Some Bracelets!

If you’ve done this before, you probably already have materials on hand. If not, head to your local crafting store to pick up what you need. Though supplies are limited, you can get a free bracelet supply kit (floss and instructions) at the following locations:

• Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, 403 S. Allen St., Suite 205A
• The Makery, 209 W Calder Way, State College
• State College Framing Company & Gallery, 160 Rolling Ridge Dr., State College
• Art a la Carte, 107 S. Allegheny St., Bellefonte

Each person who donates at least 5 bracelets to the Festival by July 1 will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card to Downtown State College once for every five bracelets they donate. So, if someone donates 10 bracelets, that’s two entries; 25 bracelets means five entries. There is no limit to the number of bracelets you can donate. We will choose two winners in this drawing.

If you need help getting started, we’ve got you covered.  Thanks to our friends at The Makery, you can download some instructions for making a simple bracelet here, and you can watch a brief video here. Please don’t be limited by these instructions. There are lots of different ways to create friendship bracelets—and you can find all of those online. Make as many bracelets as you can in as many styles as you like.

Mail your extra bracelets to: Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, P.O. Box 1023, State College, PA 16804.

Share Your Bracelets!

For the bracelets you give away, we’d like to see who wears those bracelets. We’d like our bracelet makers to send us photos of their friends holding their hand over their heart so that we can see not only your friend’s face, but also the bracelet on their wrist. Our goal is to get people in all 50 states wearing them.

Please email those photos to us at office@arts-festival.com. The subject line of your email should be Tying Us Together Photo. Tell us the person’s first name, and the state they live in. If you want to tell us they’re your cousin, grandma, pen pal, or whatever, that would be great too. You and your friends can also share images by tagging us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or using the #artsfest hashtag on any of those channels.

Each person who sends us more than one photo of someone wearing your bracelet will get one entry in a random drawing for a $50 Downtown State College gift card. If you’re the first person to send a photo of someone in any particular state, we’ll give you an extra chance in the drawing. We’ll keep you updated via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter on what states are covered. By sending us a photo, you’re giving us permission to share it on our website and on social media. We’ll select two $50 winners in the photo drawing.

We’re looking forward to seeing friendship bracelets on wrists all over town, and in photos taken all over the country!