Art happening slated for the green

BANGOR – The two green parks between State Street and Franklin Street, Norumbega Parkway and Hamlin Mall, will be dotted with white tents and filled with art and music Saturday, May 31, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Arts on the Green, the first outdoor arts festival planned by the Bangor Region Arts and Cultural Council in collaboration with Bangor Center Corp., will feature drop-in art and craft workshops and demonstrations – not sales – and continuous musical performances throughout the day.

In the evening there will be community dancing in the parking lot in front of Norumbega Hall.

“Arts on the Green” will put the spotlight on local artists and musicians, said Susan Potters, organizer of the BRACC event, but, most of all, it will be an opportunity for everyone to enjoy making art.

There will be art-making activities for all members of the family. Crafts such as beading, bookmaking, jewelry making, calligraphy, fabric painting, and hat making will all be part of the day, as well as drawing and painting.

Demonstrations will include stained glass, ceramic tile sculpture, found-object sculpture and airbrush painting. Local teens from the Bangor High School Key Club and the YMCA Interact Leaders Club will be art workshop assistants. Some also will be strolling jugglers, led by Zachary Field.

The day’s music program will begin with bagpiper Ernie Smith at 9:30 a.m.

The other groups will

perform for an hour beginning at 10 a.m.: the Queen City Big Band, Planet Pan Steel Drums, Dr. Banjo and Friends, Appalachian Roots Music, the Hampden Academy Jazz Ensemble, the Mainely Maine Barbershop Chorus and a blue grass fiddle-mandolin group.

Food will be available from local vendors.

A second stage will be set up in the Norumbega Hall parking lot, and at 4 p.m., weather permitting, community dancing will begin.

From 4 to 6 p.m., families – including those with young children – may enjoy dancing reels and circle dances called out by Greg Boardman and the Arcady-Bangor fiddlers.

At 6 p.m., Sentimental Journey will play for social dancing.

Arts on the Green is sponsored by Bangor Raceways and WVII-TV Channel 7, with funding from the Maine Community Foundation and Unity Foundation. For information about the free event, call Susan Potters, 990-2805.