This weekend marks the 50th anniversary showing of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College. Spanning from campus through town, there will be numerous artists of various media as well as a variety of food vendors available. ArtsFest has long been an opportunity for many to return to town, outside of a football weekend. With so much to take in, here’s a primer for you.
There’s Italian Street Painting on Hiester Street and sand sculptures in Sidney Friedman Park, but if music is more your interest, the list of performances on all of the numerous stages is available here.
Book Fest will be taking place at Schlow Centre Region Library from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday featuring panels with authors and artists on topics in comics. There is also 50th anniversary retrospective exhibit open to the public Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first floor of Paterno Library and The Sue Crowe Memorial Arts Festival Races on Sunday morning at Medlar Field starting at 8:15 a.m.
Steve McCurry Exhibition
While not part of ArtsFest, the Palmer Museum of Art on campus will be featuring the exhibition "Still Moving: The Photographs of Steve McCurry" featuring work from the Penn State graduate. Most famous for his National Geographic cover image "Afghan Girl" and his award-winning work while being embedded with the Mujahideen, this will be a career-spanning display. If you can’t make it this weekend, the exhibition will run through September 18, 2016.
People’s Choice Festival
Just a short drive down 322 in Boalsburg on the fields of the Pennsylvania Military Museum is the People’s Choice Festival of Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts. As ArtsFest has grown over the years and welcomed more national artists, local artists felt alienated and the People’s Choice Festival was created in 1993 to spotlight those artists. It has since grown to feature almost 200 artists and musical performances, a full list can be found here.
Lift for Life
If you’re looking for something more athletic, Penn State’s chapter of Uplifting Athletes will be presenting the 14th Annual Penn State Lift for Life on Saturday from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on the lacrosse field next the Multi-Sport Facility. There will also be a kid’s clinic by the football players and they will be available for photographs and autographs for the children afterwards. People unable to attend, but still interested in donating can go here.