The festival weekend is over (although the heat is still here). The arts festival had its biggest year yet. Hundreds of people braved the sweltering temperatures and came out to hear the music, see the vendors and artists, and eat a little something. This intersection rarely sees this many people.
Outside the PHCA office, visitors gave their feedback on the Polish Hill Community Plan. The booth was in place all weekend, and steering committee members were on hand to discuss the ideas that have come out of the months-long process.
We had a lot of great music at the festival. Daryl Fleming and Megan Williams started out the day with some humorous Americana, then Bridgette Perdue brought her gentle spirit with a set of her own compositions as well as some popular covers.
The Panther Hollow String Band (above) brought members of the Coal Country Cloggers with them, and a rousing set of Appalachian dance music —
— along with a clogging lesson for a few game audience members.
In the meantime, activities included plaster hand-casts with Carley Parrish and her lovely assistants,
…and cartooning with Andy Scott (center), who also designed the fabulous poster for the festival.
Moldies and Monsters did an energetic set of retro covers complete with handclaps and horn.
And Timbeleza, back at the festival for the third time, kept everyone moving.
The Give and Take project with its Airstream trailer attracted fashion bargain-hunters…
and the Carnegie Library’s booth included lots of chalk for drawing on the street (later washed away by the street cleaner).
Lungs Face Feet has a lot of new fans after this weekend. Their gypsy-flavored brass band is the sound of the new Polish Hill.
Food closed out the night with some great rock energy. We want to thank all the performers for playing long, tiring sets on a hot day. The great music is what makes this event work.
And here’s another group of people who make things work…here are our stalwart volunteers, who started working at 8 am, and came back after the festival ended to clean things up.
