HUDSON – Plans are underway for ArtsFest Hudson to return to the downtown area for a third year after a two-year hiatus due to pandemic restrictions.
The Cultural Arts Committee of the Hudson Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) has scheduled this year’s ArtsFest for Saturday, June 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event’s raindate is Saturday, June 11.
“It’s to promote the local arts,” committee chair Mae Zagami said of ArtsFest. “It also helps the downtown area, which is what the BID does.”
Sidewalk arts sales and sights
The committee expects over 50 vendors to participate.
Artisans’ booths will be stationed on the Main Street sidewalk spanning from New City Microcreamery to Main Street Bank. Additional vendors will be stationed outside the Town Hall and the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson, as well as in the Main Street Bank parking lot.
“We help the artists by letting them sell their products or services,” Zagami explained.
Along the way, festivalgoers can also view a recently installed mural on the corner of Manning and Main streets. The mural was financed by the BID.
“We’re trying to come up with the location and theme for our next mural,” Zagami noted.
Spotlighting performance artists
Live entertainment will also be offered outside the Town Hall and at the Main Street Bank parking lot with REHarmonix, an a cappella group of the River’s Edge Arts Alliance, set to perform at both venues.
Also set to perform this year is Grupo das Candeias, a musical group based at the Hudson Portuguese Club.
Local residents have seen Grupo das Candeias in Hudson’s Holy Ghost Feast processions. The group has also appeared at similar feasts throughout New England and Canada, as well as the annual Day of Portugal in Cambridge.
Rounding out the entertainment lineup are musical groups consisting of Hudson Public Schools students, the folk/rock band The Rafters and students from the Dance On dance studio.
A magician will entertain children. Kids can also get their faces painted, hear stories and create their own art with sidewalk chalk.
The Hudson business known as Earth & Aerial Yoga will assist festivalgoers of all ages to try to do aerial yoga.
ArtsFest’s community outreach
The BID’s Cultural Arts Committee is welcoming community organizations’ involvement with ArtsFest.
As such, the Hudson Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition will display the Opioid Project’s traveling multi-media exhibit of collages in the Town Hall lobby. These collages are created to memorialize loved ones lost to opioid overdoses.
Repeating last year’s effort, the BID is partnering again with the Hudson Cultural Alliance for a 50/50 raffle to benefit the Hudson Armory Project. The alliance is a nonprofit that is spearheading the purchase and repurposing of the downtown armory into a community arts center. Raffle tickets will be available at ArtsFest.
“ArtsFest brings a lot of people downtown,” Zagami said. “In its first year, store owners reported an increase in sales of up to 20 percent. It gets more people familiar with downtown Hudson and benefits everyone.”
Find ArtsFest Hudson updates at discoverhudson.org and facebook.com/DiscoverHudson.
RELATED CONTENT
New historical mural depicts migration from Portugal to Hudson
ArtsFest returns to Hudson’s revitalized downtown
Business Improvement District hosts first ArtsFest Hudson
