Norristown Arts Hill Festival This Saturday

From the Municipality of Norristown:

On Saturday, May 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Norristown's Arts Hill area along DeKalb Street between Lafayette and Airy streets will close to traffic and transform into the featuring a wide variety of artists and family-friendly entertainment. This is the three-year anniversary of the Norristown Arts Hill, a steadily developing arts and culture district based at the corner of Main and DeKalb streets.

This year’s celebration is a result of support in the form of grants and sponsorship from friends in the community, the Greater Norristown Corporation (GNC), and the Municipality of Norristown. Financial support has also come from local business and patrons of the arts through advertising and sponsorship. In honor of the many contributing partners, a  will be held on Thursday, May 3, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at  featuring buffet, cash bar and live entertainment. Tickets for the are $40 each, $75 for two, or $500 for a tabe sponsorship (10 seats to a table). Tickets can be purchased online here.

The Norristown Arts Council is proud to showcase the emerging downtown Norristown area, to aid in the revitalization of downtown Norristown and provide entertainment for the greater Norristown Region with a family-friendly day of diversity in regional- and nationally-acclaimed performances. Performers range from local theatre and church choirs, jazz, rock, folk and dance troupes, magicians, children’s song and dance performers and spoken word poets.

The Festival is provided free of charge and features an array of participating vendors of fine arts, performance-related businesses, cultural delicacies, favorite foods and local and regional services.

"We are proud of the wide variety of performers included in this year's festival," said Gene R. Frank, the festival's coordinator. "The inclusion of different styles, cultures and genres makes for an exciting day, and an ideal celebration of Norristown."

Performers include:  

• Metropolitan Ballet Academy
• The Academy of Dance
• R & B vocalist Alaina Nelson
• George Weldon Jazz Trio
• Acoustic Blender
• ScuzBot
• Briana Judge
• John Manzo
• Easy Does It

There will also be many artists such as renowned painter Asa Watts, who will be displaying her mixed media paintings.

This year's festival includes an expanded set of children's activities including a performance of John Henry by . There will also be kids' sand art, face painting, a children's play, a caricaturist, coloring activities and more.

“The Norristown Arts Hill Festival is vital to the revitalization efforts of Norristown," said Arts Council President Richard W. Rogers, Jr. "Norristown Arts Council provides a public display of richness in diversity of people, talent and culture. The Festival reminds all involved of what downtown Norristown has to offer as a destination city.”

The Norristown Arts Hill Festival is part of Norristown's Bicentennial Celebration. For more information on Bicentennial Celebration events, visit norristown200.com.