CREATE to Host 8th Annual Art in the Park with the Brookville Laurel Festival

BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Over the past seven years, CREATE’s annual Art in the Park (AITP) event has attracted a large following with members of the community and beyond who enjoy a fun, safe, and friendly environment to exercise their creative muscles.

The event features local artists, artisans and vendors as well as activities for the whole family. This year, AITP will kick off the newly revamped Brookville Laurel Festival on Saturday, June 16th from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Main Street in Brookville.

The event is part of the Brookville Laurel Festival’s Day of the Arts. Laurel Board member, Randy Bartley indicated that the Board is excited to bring this event to Main Street. “CREATE’s Art in the Park is a lively, entertaining, family-oriented event that typifies what the new Brookville Laurel Festival is all about,” Bartley said. “Our Board of Directors believe AITP will set the tone for Laurel Week.”

CREATE Board President, Bill Stein, says the CREATE Board has spent months preparing for the event and is excited to make this year’s AITP the best yet. All along Main Street from Barnett St to Pickering St, over 25 local artists, organizations and activities will be ready to take on participants. Festival-goers can tye dye t-shirts, play with oobleck, “chalk the block” with sidewalk chalk, make decorative family trees, enjoy personalized “Street Poetry” with the Writer’s Block Party, do a beginner’s knitting activity with Third Loop, create “seed bombs” with flowers and contribute to a Community Poem with The Watershed Journal.

“We’re excited about getting businesses involved and giving people options with the food trucks,” Stein said. “It’s a new atmosphere with the newly-renovated town square.”

In the town square, CREATE will feature musical entertainment for the day starting with the Pittsburgh area bluegrass band, Well Strung Trio, followed by a showcase performance of Bye Bye Birdie by the cast at the Reitz Theater in DuBois. Later, Mitch Littler, the “Man in the Red Jacket” will perform his mix of folk and blues, followed by Jay Klugh, a Clarion area musician. At 4:30, the popular local band, Jefferson County Line will cap off the AITP musical entertainment.

However, the Day of the Arts won’t end after AITP wraps up. Local favorite Pork McElhinny is returning from Nashville to perform one night only at the historic Columbia Theater that evening from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. A limited number of tickets are still for sale at Fusion Atelier, 185 Main Street, Brookville.

Stein, who is also a member of the Laurel Board, added that he has enjoyed seeing the community come together for the festival week. “I appreciate that the new board has opened up to community organizations to work together and get the festival back to what it once was,” Stein explained. “They are working tirelessly.”

Stein would like to remind festival-goers to “dress for a mess” and be prepared to dive into all of the fun things happening this year. For more information about AITP and CREATE Brookville, follow them on Facebook or check out their website at www.createbrookville.net.