Countdown to PortFest: NEW PortFest Cafe to feature Poetry Slam and Coffeehouse

A new and exciting addition to PortFest will be the outdoor PortFest Café featuring poetry readings, dance and musical performances and an exhibition of student artwork. Sit down, relax in the shade and enjoy Coffee drinks from Coffeed and treats from Sweet Comfort that will be available for purchase. The large tent café walls will feature student’s artwork from across the district and a small stage will feature poetry readings by young poets from all five elementary schools in Port Washington.

HEARTS awarded a grant to five Elementary Library Media Specialists in the Port Washington School District for Authorfest, a program for all 4th grade students district wide to expose the children of Port Washington to different forms of literature as well as the writing and publishing process. The children from Authorfest will be performing their works at the PortFest Café.

Author/Illustrator Douglas Florian will be visiting all 5 schools to kick off the Authorfest program. Douglas Florian has written and illustrated more than fifty children’s books. These include Beast Feast, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, Insectlopedia, a national bestseller featured on National Public Radio and The Today Show, Mammalabilia, winner of the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award and a New York Times “Best Illustrated Book of the Year”, and Dinothesaurus. He has presented his poetry at The White House, Carnegie Hall, and The Museum of Modern Art.

Manorhaven School had an amazing visit with Poet Douglas Florian. ​”The students were enthralled by Mr. Florian’s interactive performance. The kids were speaking “poet-speak’ and were laughing as they realized how much fun poetry can be,” remarked MaryEllen Noone. Manorhaven 3rd graders also had a surprise in store for Mr. Florian. Led by Manorhaven Music Teacher, Amanda Johnson, they performed some of Mr. Florian’s poems to music. Also, students from Dr. Laurey Brevig’s performed their poetry creations using his poems as inspiration. Mr. Florian said “Manorhaven touched my heart.” “He conducted workshops with our 4th graders as they prepare for their performance at the Poetry Cafe. It was a wonderful day!” added MaryEllen Noone.

PortFest is a Music, Arts and Community Festival in Port Washington Long Island. Live music, art exhibits, local musicians, dance performances, interactive hands-on family exhibits, and performance groups from across the school district and community are just some of the scheduled events and activities. Bring a blanket, chairs and your appetite as local vendors and specialty gourmet food trucks will be ready to handle the hungry crowd.

One of the largest exhibitions will be the PortFest Art Tent that will boast original artwork by over 30 local artists on display and available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going directly to HEARTS to support their grant programs. There will be a Silent Auction featuring over 50 different items and experiences to bid on including a, Tickets to Big Apple Circus, Tickets to Hershey Park, Tickets to the Broadway show “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night”, Mets tickets, dinner certificates to local Port Washington restaurants, cooking lessons, Tickets to Kelly and Michael, a Dolce and Gabbana handbag, tons of art and so much more!

PortFest is HEARTS (Helping Enrich the Arts) largest annual fundraiser. Since inception 4 years ago, HEARTS has been able to fund over $100,000 in new program grants to enrich art, music, theater, and writing programming throughout the Port Washington School District.

Admission to PortFest is FREE and there will be plenty of free parking at the Schreiber High School Campus 101 Campus Drive Port Washington, NY 11050.

For a schedule of events for PortFest, log onto www.pwportfest.org. To connect with HEARTS, as a volunteer or to make a donation, log onto www.heartspw.org or www.facebook.com/heartspw or email heartspw@gmail.com

A Crowdrise account has been established for PortFest. Below is a link to Crowdrise, which will enable you to set up a fundraising tool that you can share via email or social media.…Come “Join The Team”

https://www.crowdrise.com/fundraise-and-volunteer/the-team/portfest2015/heartspw