MOUNT VERNON – The Mount Vernon Music and Arts Festival, held Aug. 11-14, will welcome Little River Band, Artrageous and Phil Dirt and the Dozers as headline entertainment for this summer’s event.
Now in its 34th year, the festival is presented by Ariel Corporation, the Mount Vernon Arts Consortium and Park National Bank. It will be held in the Public Square and across downtown.
The festival celebrates not only the arts but also downtown itself, festival board chair Joe Rinehart told the Mount Vernon News. There will be events for everyone, from kids to car lovers.
"The festival is really a celebration of the arts in our community put [against] the backdrop of our gorgeous downtown," Rinehart said. "Just over the last decade, we've had so many improvements to downtown, so many additions to downtown. It's really exciting."
The festival will emphasize many different elements of the arts community.
"We try to have something for everyone," he said. "Our slogan is 'Choose your experience.'"
Those experiences span all age groups, said Joseph Bell, festival co-director.
"People can now become engaged in activities – it's not passive anymore where you just sit and watch and listen to people perform," he said. "You can now be a part of many creative experiences at all age levels, from young tykes clear up to your grandparents expressing their creative abilities, talents and skills."
The festival's KidsFest this year is partnering with Experience Mount Vernon, said Trina Trainor, also a festival co-director.
"We put together some pretty awesome kind of classroom-type learning experiences for our youth," she said. "We have watercolors; we have painting and drawing."
There will be bounce houses as well.
"We will have yard games and carnival games, live stage shows," Trainor said. "Our youth will be performing on stage. We have a lot of things happening for our youth this year."
The headliner Saturday night is the Little River Band. The concert is free, although tickets are available for a roped-off seating area for those who don't want to bring their own lawn chairs.
On Friday night, Artrageous will perform.
"They are basically Blue Man meets Picasso," Trainor said. "They will be painting six-by-six canvases while the others are performing. It's phenomenal."
There will be a car and motorcycle show as well on the square and even a cheerleading competition.
"We've got some really fun stuff happening," Trainor said.
The festival officially opens at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 11, and will highlight local, regional and national performing, visual and creative artists of all ages. There will also be plenty of food, snack and beverage selections available from a variety of food trucks, downtown restaurants and cafes.
All headline acts are scheduled to take the main stage at 8:30 p.m. each evening – Phil Dirt and the Dozers on Thursday, the Artrageous Show on Friday and the Little River Band on Saturday. The festival’s annual car and motorcycle cruise-in highlights the morning and afternoon on Sunday. The festival closes at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Other items of note: Friday and Saturday at noon – the Youth Showcase of local musicians; Sunday at 2 p.m. – Game Day Cheerleading Competition at the Park National Bank parking lot on West Vine Street.
The complete 2022 entertainment schedule and map will be available in pocket guides throughout the festival grounds and at the welcome tent on the south entrance to the Public Square.
Learn more about this year’s MVMAF at https://www.mvmaf.org/ or on the Festival’s Facebook and Instagram (@mvmafohio).
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