Arts Fest Kicks Off with Children and Youth Day

The 50th Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts gets started Wednesday with the annual Children and Youth Day.

The first day of the festival features performances for and by youths, arts and crafts and a Grand Procession through the festival. The Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale is the centerpiece of the day, with young artists aged 8-18 having the opportunity to share their original creative work.

Wednesday’s Schedule

10 a.m. – Public Safety Personnel (South Allen Street) – Public safety personnel will be on hand from Alpha Fire and the State College Police Department. 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. – Children and Youth Day Sidewalk Sale (South Allen Street) – Young artists from Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Mifflin and Union counties will display and sell their original creative work

10 a.m.-3 p.m. – Children’s Creative Activities (Old Main Lawn) – Kids can create a custom photo frame with jewels, buttons, ribbons, and other media; Kids of all ages can explore, create, enjoy and discover with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math activities. Graduate students from Penn State’s Center for Nanoscale Science, undergraduate summer researchers, Upward Bound Math & Science high school students, and other scientists and engineers will share their passion, expertise and creativity.

Creative activities also include face painting; 4-H seeing-eye dogs and puppies in training, crafts with Penn State’s Center for Arts and Crafts; Animals from Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center; Bilingualism Matters at Penn State will help kids make paper animals representing the national animals of different countries; and Penn State All-Sports Museum will be on hand

10 a.m.-3 p.m. – Children’s Creative Activities (Sidney Friedman Park) – Centre Region Parks and Rec staff will lead kids in Arts in the Park; Art Alliance will help children create pet rocks with river stones and colorful adornments; PSECU will give kids a chance to design their own piggy banks; and face-painting will be available.

11 a.m. – Nittany Dreamers (Old Main Lawn Festival Shell) – The baton corps includes 32 performers from kindergarten through high school and frequently performs at parades and events around Centre County.

11 a.m. – State College Suzuki Program (Allen Stage) – A performance from the program that  offers instruction in violin, viola, cello, and piano.  

11 a.m. & 2 p.m.- National Marionette Theatre (State Theatre) – The audience favorite returns to the festival for the first time in three years with a production of Sleeping Beauty. Requires Festival Button for admission.

Noon – Central PA Mixed Martial Arts (Allen Stage) – The program will provide a demonstration of the variety of martial arts for which it offers instruction.

12:30 p.m. – Music Academy Students (Allen Stage) – Players will give solo and ensemble performances of classical, jazz, and folk music on piano, flute, violin, clarinet, trumpet, and guitar.

1 p.m. – Centre Dance (Old Main Lawn Festival Shell) – Centre Dance offers ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, and hip hop  to students age 3 and up. The performance also will feature members of the Centre Dance competition team, Avid Dance Productions.

2:30 p.m. – Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop (Old Main Lawn Festival Shell) – Students will present a narrated demonstration of styles of dance and excerpts from their recent production, Music Icons. The styles demonstrated will include ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and hip hop. 

4 p.m. – Children and Youth Day Grand Procession (Old Main Lawn) – Distribution of procession pieces will begin at 3:15 p.m.
A menagerie of giant papier-mâché creatures will be worn or carried in the Children and Youth Day Grand Procession. Both children and adults can take part in the route starting on Old Main Lawn, and traveling down Allen Street to Sidney Friedman Park.

4:30 p.m. – Dance Academy (Old Main Lawn Festival Shell) – The Dance Academy will give a performance from its classes for all ages in most popular dance styles.

7:30 p.m. – Pat Farrell Community Sing-Along (State College Presbyterian Church) – Reviving the State College tradition of a ‘community sing,’ people of all ages are welcome to join in a fun evening of traditional songs, folk melodies, camp songs, and a Broadway number or two.