PHILADELPHIA, PA: Manayunk is getting ready to celebrate a milestone. The annual Manayunk Arts Festival will celebrate 25 years of being the region’s largest outdoor juried arts festival. On Saturday June 21st and Sunday June 22nd tradition will continue as 300 artists from across the country showcase their work along historic Main Street.
To kick off the festival weekend, Manayunk will welcome the Summer Solstice with the Manayunk Solstice Fire starting at 5pm on Friday June 20th along the historic Manayunk canal with activities for all ages including an animal show, dance performances, and the lighting of 12 floating bonfires to celebrate the solstice.
The main event, the Manayunk Arts Festival, which is organized and operated annually by the Manayunk Development Corporation (MDC) and Manayunk.com, is free to the public and will feature artists from seven different disciplines including fiber, glass & ceramics, jewelry, mixed media, painting & drawing, photography, and wood & sculpture. Visitors can also enjoy food and beverages from Manayunk’s acclaimed restaurants and cool off by shopping at Manayunk’s unique boutiques and stores. The festival will run on Saturday from 11 am until 7 pm and Sunday from 11 am until 6 pm.
For Jane Lipton, MDC’s Executive Director who was a volunteer at the very first Manayunk Arts Festival in 1990 , the evolution of the festival over a quarter of a century has been remarkable.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years already, but here we are and it’s fantastic,” said Lipton. “I honestly don’t know how, but every year the quality and uniqueness of the artwork gets better and better. I feel it’s a testament to the growing art scene in Manayunk, Philadelphia, and beyond. Our jurors were extremely impressed with the artistic breadth of this year’s submissions and more than 200,000 festival goers will soon find out why.”
Part of the magic of the show is the combination of returning artists mixed with young new emerging artists. Festival goers will see work exhibited by artists who have done the show since it first began in 1990 – and work from artist as young as 19 who are participating in their first festival. Juried in since the very first year is New York based wearable artist Ossie Rioux, Manayunk based Rachel Isaac and photographer Jim Spillane.
For the third year, local and budding talent will be featured in the Emerging Artist Tent located at the intersection of Main Street and Roxborough Ave. 30 artists will display their work in the tent throughout the weekend. One of those artists is Jared Oriel, a local artist who just completed his first year of college at the Pratt Institute.
FESTIVAL PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION SHUTTLE
Round-trip shuttle service is available for just $3 per person. Proceeds benefit the North Light Community Center. Free
Shuttle Parking is available at the following locations:
- 555 City Avenue on Presidential Blvd. in Bala Cynwyd
- Ivy Ridge Train Station on Umbria Street
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (www.septa.org)
- Train: A 15-minute ride from Center city via the Manayunk Norristown Regional Rain Line to the Manayunk Station.
- Bus: Take the #61 bus route from Center City to Main Street.
For more information on the Manayunk Arts Festival, please call 215-482-9565 or visit www.manayunk.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Shannon Geddes, Manayunk Development Corporation Public Relations and Events Coordinator sgeddes@manayunk.org or 267-270-3077
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. She’s unbelievable, I just got back from Colorado for a conference with her. I taught for about thirty years, I taught art in an elementary school and about four or five years ago I decided to leave teaching and I started doing this full time.And I didn’t know where to start. I found the book, I went to a lot of her live workshops and on-line classes and I met Pam when Alyson came here to Philadelphia. She was here exactly two years ago. She’s unbelievable!”