The Peru Gazette

The third annual Keeseville Community Arts Festival will take place July 21-22, with several local organizations and businesses holding visual and performing arts events across the hamlet. The festival brings residents and visitors together to celebrate the arts and artistic assets of the community.

AdkAction’s annual Plein Air Show and Sale is at the festival’s core. Forty talented artists from near and far will paint Keeseville’s historic architecture, mountains, bridges, waterfalls and farms in the week leading up to the Festival, producing over 120 paintings. Community members will enjoy seeing the beauty of sights in their backyards by visiting the Plein Air Art Show and Sale, held for the first time at Keeseville’s historic Stone Mill on the Ausable River. A wine and cheese reception on Friday night and a brunch on Saturday morning will allow festival-goers to meet the artists in person and purchase their artwork. A new ‘Uplifting Community’ challenge will help keep plein air paintings at the festival accessible to all by asking artists to submit one painting priced below $250. In addition to prizes in the juried art show, AdkAction will also award three Emerging Artists Fellowships to support the next generation of fine arts.

New this year, a Color Run 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run organized by Dynamix Fitness and Wellness will kick off Saturday’s festivities at the Elk’s Club, with a finish line at the popular ‘Arts in the Park’ event in Anderson Falls Park. Artists and artisans local to Keeseville will set up in the park to demonstrate their craft, discuss their work, and sell pottery, jewelry, woodcrafts, and more. Festival goers can enjoy live music by local band Alice’s Fault and food from The Dogfather food truck and Island Vybz.

Free youth art activities include face painting, an outdoor watercolor workshop at the Keeseville Community Garden on Front Street, hoop dance classes by Vestopia Hoops, and a tie dye station that includes a free Keeseville Community Arts Festival shirt. You should sign up for these activities to ensure space and shirt availability. Sign up at www.Adkaction.org/art

Adirondack Architectural Heritage also offers a free coloring book to help children and their families discover Keeseville’s nearby historic landmarks and create some artwork.

Visitors to the festival can get to know this charming lakeside community at the foothills of the Adirondack mountains and explore the area to try food, beer, and wine from local farms; enjoy live music at several venues; and visit area galleries, florists, antique shops and museums. For a complete guide to all arts and community events happening during the festival, visit AdkAction.org/Art.

The Keeseville Community Arts Festival is organized by a team of local volunteers brought together by AdkAction as part of the nonprofit’s community revitalization through the arts project. Over 25 individual and business sponsors have supported this year’s festival.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts.

In part, the Keeseville Community Arts Festival is made possible by the Essex County Arts Council’s Cultural Assistance Program Grant with funding provided by Essex County.