GARNERVILLE – The 25th annual Garner Arts Festival gets into the USA 250 spirit this month.
The event offers chances to see and participate in artistic creation at the landmark pre-Civil War textile factory complex. The 14-acre arts and artisan campus, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a bit of historic artwork itself.
The 25th annual Garner Arts Festival takes place Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17.
Plenty to see and do
Warrens of Haverstraw brick-made buildings provide a dramatic backdrop for arts displays, music, refreshment.
Artists are opening their studios to show their creations and demonstrate techinques. Live music and food vendors will be on site, along with a large craft market.
Historic installations include a Works Progress Administration poster exhibition and installations that reflect the hamlet’s industrial past. A 250-person Flash Sketch Mob is also being organized.
“You never know what to expect as you wander 14 historic acres,” said Kris Burns, Garner Arts creative director. “A nest made of tires, spontaneous dance performance, a coal fired pizza oven, a Zumba demonstration, a poet laureate, a sitarist by the stairs, craft beer made on site, a marble sculpture fashioned before your eyes, a film festival, monumental textiles, a rock trio on a walkway, portraits dangling over a creek, a tree fabricated from plastic, paper sculptures drifting overhead, a WPA poster exhibit, interactive screen printing, videos in elevator shafts.”
Join a ‘sketch mob’
The artistically inclined can join in SKETCH MOB 250, a group-effort production of plein air drawings, providing what artist Bill Batson calls “a unified archive of individual perspectives.”
Registration is required to participate. For more, go to billbatsonarts.com/sketch-mob-250.
Garner Arts Center’s role in USA history
The Garner Historic District, home to the Garner Arts Center, was first the site of a grist mill built near the Minisceongo Creek in 1760.
In 1830, a textile factory was built along Railroad Avenue. In 1838, the Garner brothers brought the plant and expanded it as Rockland Print Works. As the textile mill grew, workers built homes nearby and the hamlet of Garnerville took shape.
During the Civil War, the factory produced uniforms for the Union Army.
The factory closed amid the Great Depression and then had another life after it housed an industrial cooperative in the 1930s.
For the past few decades, the area became the Garner Historic District and Garner Arts Center campus, providing space for artist studios, makers, performers, and small businesses.
If you go
The 25th Garner Arts Festival takes place rain or shine. During the weekend, visitors can stop by studios, visit exhibitions, see live performances and shop at an affordable arts market.
When: 11 a.m to 6 p.m. May 16 and 17.
Where: Bridge Street and Railroad Avenue, with entry at the Bridge Street side.
Tickets: $12 in advance (order at garnerartscenter.org) and $15 at the gate. Group rates and senior, student and military discounts are available.
Parking: On site parking is reserved for drivers with ADA parking permits. Street parking is free and spaces are available at SW Johnson Fire Engine Co. in Bridge Street. Shuttles will be provided from parking lots in the area, including Trinity Episcopal Church, Helen Hayes Hospital Lots J and E, North Rockland Administration Building. Find parking locations here.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Garner Arts Festival showcases Garnerville’s industrial, artisan roots
Reporting by Nancy Cutler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
