Ithaca Festival of the Arts will be taking place this weekend, June 2-4. With the slogan, “Celebrating the artist in everyone since 1977!,” Ithaca Festival strives to support the arts in the Ithaca community by hosting artists of many kinds: musicians, painters, dancers, clowns, community organizations, and ensembles will all be present throughout the weekend. With six different stages, the scope and plenitude of entertainment is vast. There will also be activities for kids, a craft show, a parade, a film festival, an art area, and an array of delicious food offered throughout various locations in Ithaca.
The parade Friday evening is a wonderful way to kick off the weekend. Over one hundred community groups will participate in the event, incorporating costumes, music, and dance into their presentations. It starts at 6:30 p.m., traveling on Cayuga Street from Lincoln to Court Street. The parade is one of my favorite parts of the weekend—the whole town seems to come out of the woodwork for it, and it truly feels like a celebratory event.
This weekend, in addition to the music, the art, and the food, I will make sure to check out the special events that the festival has put together. BLANK, by Nassim Soleimanpour, “is a warm and surprising work that upends the things we thought we knew about theater and the stories we make of our lives.” It will be shown at Cinemapolis on Sunday at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. On Saturday from 11 to 12 p.m., 2017 Tompkins County Poet Laureate Zee Zahava will lead a workshop on writing and sharing happy memories. And on Sunday, Shiny Gemstones Comedy Show will be performing at Cinemapolis at 5:30 p.m. This all-female comedy showcase will surely be an excellent way to wrap up the fun-filled Ithaca Festival weekend.
