Celebrate the arts at the 39th annual Fall Festival
CORVALLIS – Corvallis restaurants are busier and the streets are
more crowded, signaling the return of Oregon State University
students. And with the return of the students comes the return of
another annual rite, the Corvallis Fall Festival.
This weekend marks the 39th annual Fall Festival celebration, to
be held in Central Park.
Over the years, Fall Festival has become one of the
longer-standing, premier art fairs in the Northwest, and one that
can hold its own, quality-wise, with the art fairs in Seattle and
Bellevue, said Cynthia Spencer, the festival’s director.
“It’s also just a good community party,” said Spencer. “It will
always be first and foremost a community-building event.”
This year, participants can expect some of their favorite Fall
Festival activities, as well as a couple of new tricks, such as
“Pixel Craft,” an all-digital arts show. (See related story.)
The festival also is making more of an effort to go green,
starting with the food court. This year, vendors will be using all
compostable products, so that everything will end up in one giant
compostable pile.
”We’re calling it ‘eco-smart’ because you aren’t going to get
to zero trash probably ever,” said Spencer. But if it works, she
said, “we’ll be sending a lot less to the landfill.”
The festival also will be promoting greenness elsewhere, like in
the Arts Discovery Zone for kids and parents, where Saturday has
been dubbed “Recycle Saturday” – all the arts projects will be made
from used materials.
Festival attendees also can enjoy a fine arts show, displaying
more traditional work, and a lineup of performing arts on the
community stage, which features various dance groups such as
Bollywood and traditional South Indian dance group Bala-Vihar and
traditional Mexican dance group Fiesta Mexicana. There might even
be a magician.
Ten different bands will grace the main stage, most of whom –
like The Ty Curtis Band — boast a strong local following.
And, of course, festival-goers will have the opportunity to
browse through the 170 different arts and crafts booths, one of the
festival’s main features.
The festival will run from 10 am to 6 pm Saturday Sept. 24,
followed by a street dance from 6 to 10 pm, and from 10 am to 5
pm Sunday, Sept. 25. For a full list of activities and festival
participants, see http://corvallisfallfestival.org.
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