CENTRE COUNTY — The Centre County festival season has come to a close. The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, People’s Choice Festival, Art in the Orchard and Philipsburg Heritage Days all took place during the week of Monday, July 8.
The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts began in 1967. It has since become a longstanding tradition within the community.
This year’s festival started on Wednesday, July 10, with Children and Youth Day featuring young artists and performers throughout the streets of downtown State College.
The rest of the weekend included food vendors, interactive art exhibits, street art and art for sale. Vendors came from all across the country to sell their art and attend Arts Fest.
Similarly structured to Arts Fest, People’s Choice Festival occurred in Centre Hall’s Grange Park from Thursday, July 11, through Sunday, July 15. The event was formerly held at the Pennsylvania Military Museum grounds, though in recent years it moved to the Grange Fairgrounds.
The event was created in 1993 by George and Nancy Marion, who wanted to highlight artists local to Centre County. Vendors that work in a variety of mediums, from clay and paint to woodcarving and more, were in attendance alongside cideries and wineries, food vendors and local performers.
This year, People’s Choice celebrated its 30th anniversary with a 30th-anniversary tent that held memorabilia and a cake.
Philipsburg Heritage Days was started in 1998 by the former members of the Philipsburg Bi-Centennial committee. Every year has a theme; this year’s was “Celebrate with us.”
The event is put on to highlight Philipsburg’s heritage. This year’s event featured a range of performers, food vendors and shows, with the week ending with a fireworks show.
Heritage Days, like the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, also has a kids’ day, this year featuring a life-size Optimus Prime truck.
Art in the Orchard, started in 2021, is Centre County’s newest festival during the popular July festival week. The event was created by the co-owner of Way Fruit Farms, Jason Coopey. The festival was held on the farm in Port Matilda and began on Thursday, July 11.
This year a few new activities were added, including a bunny barn for people to pet bunnies and a butterfly tent where attendees could view a variety of butterflies.
The event also had live sand sculpting, artists selling their own art, live music and a selection of food vendors.
