By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
For the past two years, the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts has held a “canal arts” festival around Independence Day. But this year, local arts enthusiasts will be able to get their fix a month earlier than usual. The 3rd Annual Arts Festival will take place June 1 in the Oswego Street neighborhood.
Jim Dale, board president of the BCA, gave the Baldwinsville Village Board of Trustees an update on the arts organization’s calendar for the rest of the year at the trustees’ May 2 meeting. Dale, who owns the Baldwinsville Bed and Breakfast at 70 Oswego St., said about 70 artists and vendors will participate in the main event of the festival, Art Walk 2019.
Artists will set up on the lawns of homes on Oswego Street to display and sell their work and explain their artistic process to festivalgoers. Among the featured artists are painters, sculptors, photographers, jewelry makers and woodworkers. The festival also will feature live music.
“The 3rd Annual Arts Festival will be slightly different from the previous two festivals, but we believe the Art Walk is a wonderful way to share many of our talented local artists with the community. Oswego Street residents have come together to offer up their front yards for this fantastic community event, and we are excited for a fun day of art and music,” Dale said in a press release about the event.
The Art Walk coincides with the Shacksboro Museum’s annual Peony Festival, which also features live music. Attendees of the Peony Fest can purchase perennials and peony blooms, take part in arts and crafts, and enter raffle drawings throughout the day.
Dale offered a look even further ahead in the BCA’s calendar. He said there is a second edition of “Shakes-beer” in the works. Theater students from Syracuse University performed scenes from William Shakespeare’s plays at WT Brews in February. The three “acts” were interspersed with beer tastings.
“It was so well-received that we really wanted to do it on a larger scale and try to work with a local brewers’ association to get a bunch of the local breweries to be participating in that,” Dale said.
Dale said the center is hoping to host “Shakes-beer 2” in Baldwin Canal Square for increased room and visibility.
As for the fall, Ghost Walk continues to grow. Dale said the creepy historical tour will be extended to three nights: Oct. 4, 5 and 6. Rehearsals are underway for the 75-minute tour, which features eight stops at various haunts in the village of Baldwinsville.
This year, Baldwinsville residents can get in on the phantasmal fun. The BCA will be holding a ghost story contest in which villagers can write in about the paranormal activity they’ve witnessed in their own homes. The winner’s story will be depicted in a stop on the Ghost Walk. More details about the contest are to come.
The Baldwinsville Center for the Arts is still accepting vendor applications for the 3rd Annual Arts Festival. Visit baldwinsvillearts.org for more information.
If you go
The Baldwinsville Center for the Arts’ 3rd Annual Arts Festival takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 1, along Oswego Street between Oneida and Elizabeth streets. Admission is free. For more information, visit baldwinsvillearts.org or facebook.com/BaldwinsvilleCenterForTheArts.
The Peony Festival will take place at the same time and date — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 1 — at the Shacksboro Museum, 46 Canton St. Take part in arts and crafts, see the peony gardens in bloom, purchase perennial plants and peony blooms, and enjoy live music all day. Raffle prizes will be awarded throughout the day. Visit facebook.com/ShacksboroSchoolhouseMuseum for more information.
