This weekend, the Manayunk Arts Festival will be celebrating its 35th anniversary, and the whole city is invited out to partake in the largest outdoor, juried arts festival in the region.
The annual tradition has grown each and every year, now holding 300 different local and nationally known artists and crafters, plus food vendors, live art demonstrations, merchant specials and more June 22 and 23. But it all started in 1990 when Barbara Boroff, the original promoter who brought the artists to Main Street, set out to help create this event.
Her daughter, Joan Boroff Denenberg, a marketing and retail strategy consultant for the Manayunk Development Corporation, was also there 30 years ago setting up the show.
“We were on the street marking and remarking up to 3 a.m. in the morning before the show,” explained Denenberg in a statement. “We had no idea how the event would go and just crossed our fingers that year one was good enough to think about year two… the sun shined all weekend, the street was packed, we were featured on the front cover of the local paper… we knew we had something that would last and change Manayunk.”
This year will feature eight different disciplines: Fiber, glass, ceramics, jewelry, mixed media, painting and drawing, photography, plus wood and sculpture. As a news release notes, a special feature of the show is the Emerging Artist Program which features local and up-and-coming talent. This initiative allows young artists to begin showing and selling their work, and each artist is allowed to participate as an emerging artist for up to three years and then are extended an invitation to participate in the show (many of whom still do).
This year will hold 55 of those new artists in the Emerging Arts Tents located on Grape Street and Roxborough Avenue, and at the PHS Pop-Up Garden on Jamestown Avenue.
“We’re very proud of the Emerging Artist Program as we get to see so many new artists grow into festival artists, not only with the Manayunk Arts Festival, but with other festivals, shows, and circuits too,” said Caitlin Marsilii, events coordinator of the Manayunk Development Corporation in a statement. “With this year’s expansion in collaboration with PHS Pop Up Garden at Manayunk, we are excited to offer even more opportunities to [them].”
On top of expanding the program, the Manayunk Arts Festival will also feature a “Funk Shop,” a collaboration between Lucky’s Last Chance and Rose Bear Arts to create a curated collection of artists, plus an interactive community art experience titled the “Ten Thousand Flowers Project.”
The project will be led by artist Tim Gibson, and over the course of the two-day festival, visitors, artists, and residents will be able to help create one giant temporary mural, filled with ten thousand colorful flowers.
Other highlights at the festival include the “Portraits of Gout Revealed Mobile Gallery Experience” (Saturday only) where portraits made using uric acid “expose the pain and true emotional toll that uncontrolled gout has had on three real people,” and different beverage tastings from the multi-generational, family-owned beverage wholesaler, Muller Inc.
On top of everything being offered at the rain-or-shine event, visitors can also enjoy food and beverages from Manayunk’s different restaurants or cool off by shopping at the area’s unique boutiques and stores.
Manayunk Arts Festival is part of the 200th anniversary celebration of Manayunk, where its development corporation will host a year of events for the bicentennial that honor and celebrate the neighborhood’s rich history, according to the news release. Programing and events will include the Founders Philly Freeze Out, Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival, Manayunk Arts Festival, Dog Day of Summer, Stroll the Street, Out and About in MNYK, Manayunk Wing Woman, Halloween in Manayunk, Holidays in Manayunk and more.
Philadelphians can find out more updates by visiting manayunk.com and following @manayunkdotcom.
