Arts & Entertainment

'Harvest the Arts' a Focus This Weekend at the Apple Harvest Festival

Residents will be encouraged to put their creative hats on and the streets will be lined with art and scarecrows as downtown Southington prepares to "harvest the arts."

There’s a feeling of fall filling the air in downtown Southington and it’s not just because autumn is underway. Dozens of scarecrows are set to line Center Street tonight and there will be crafting of all kinds available as the second weekend of the Apple Harvest Festival gets underway.

It’s “Harvest the Arts” time again.

The special portion of the festival will take place all weekend long, with special events each day as part of an effort to encourage arts and cultural enhancement in Southington. In recent years, the event has proved to be a “big draw” for the festival said Christopher Palmieri.

“There are some returning favorites to the ‘Harvest the Arts’ program this year, including the Scarecrow contest (on Friday night),” said Palmieri, chairman of the festival supervisory committee. “It’s such an important part of our festival now.”

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“Harvest the Arts” is sponsored through a grant from the Greater Hartford Art Council and is done in partnership with many arts groups in town. Palmieri said Mary DeCroce, president of Southington Community Cultural Arts, or SCCA, helps organize and lead many of the activities.

The upcoming weekend at the festival is packed with artistic opportunities and displays for visitors to enjoy, starting on Friday evening with the community scarecrow contest. At the nearby Pepper Pot, there will also be food and drinks along with local artist Derek Monahan and vocalist Tanya Leonard.

Saturday will prove to be a fun-packed day as well, with numerous programs taking place over the course of the day.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., downtown Southington will be filled with the arts, including the following:

Scarecrows on Parade
View scarecrows made by Southington residents and school children along Center Street.

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Working Artists’ Gallery
Watch artists at work as they mold clay on a potter’s wheel, create trash sculpture, paint with watercolor and acrylic paint, and create abstract art with various mediums. Artwork is also available for purchase from the artists.

Center St. Street Performers
Listen to live street musicians, participate in a drum circle, and watch local dance companies, throughout the day on Center Street.

Funny Faces Photos
Put your face in a plywood cut out of Plantsville Pete, Southington Sue or critter. Artwork created by local artist Andy Zygmunt.

The Saturday festivities will also continue in downtown Plantsville Saturday evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. as Clinton Deckert debuts his new gallery, “A 25-Year Retrospective.” The exhibition, held at Paris in Plantsville, is open to the public.

The weekend will also feature “Mural Mania,” a special dedication to a new mural designed to provide positive color in the community. From the “Harvest the Arts” pamphlet:

Every Year Harvest the Arts features a new large-scale mural created by local artists. This year’s event will feature three of them and is called “Mural Mania”. The location is on the corner of Bristol Street and West Center Street along the linear walking trail
 on the Total
 Maintenance
 Buildings. The
 public is 
invited to
 watch brush
 artists and
 spray can
 graffiti artists
 working 
together to
 create murals 
on location.

“We’re excited about the opportunities here. It should be a great weekend,” Palmieri said.

For more information on “Harvest the Arts” and other aspects of the 44th Apple Harvest Festival page. Be sure to also follow the festival on Facebook.

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