Festival Bringing The Arts And Lots More To Downtown Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Doylestown Arts Festival will bring thousands of people to the streets of Doylestown Borough on Sept. 10 and 11 for a blockbuster weekend of art and entertainment.

The 31st annual celebration of creativity and community, presented by Discover Doylestown, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival is free and open to the public.

With the event just around the corner, Patch talked with Paul Boger, who co-directs the festival with his wife, Kris, and is the leader of the arts festival committee. Here’s what he is saying about the big weekend ahead and what to expect.

What’s new this year?

“We are really hoping that this year will be our return to normal as the arts festival. Last year we were recuperating after having 2020 cancelled due to COVID. It was pretty much a come back year. It was hyper, hyper local last year. This year we have ramped back up to where we were in 2019.

“We have also added some space to the festival - a stretch of Oakland Avenue between Hamilton and Clinton streets for 2022. It’s our first real expansion in a little more than a decade.

“We have added a whole other block to the festival, which has allowed us to welcome a number of additional artists and activities into the event, which we are very excited about. It was a stretch of road that was previously closed and underutilized. It was a natural area for expansion. We’ll have live music at the end of that block. We’ll have artists lining one side of the street and we’ll have some new activities along there as well.”

How many vendors are you expecting?

“We have about 200 total vendors. About 150 of those are local and regional artists. The remainder include a few food vendors who will be there with a small food court; obviously our sponsors, who have helped make the event possible; and we have a number of demonstration and activity booths, which will be lining the streets.

“In addition to that, we have a number of local cultural institutions and organizations, which have been a tradition we have had for the last several years. Representing the cultural district of Doylestown will be the Michener Art Museum, the Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle, the Tile Works, the County Theatre, the Arts and Cultural Council of Bucks County, the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Discover Doylestown.”

What are some of the other festival highlights?

“We’ll have five stages of live music with a little more than 30 acts across the weekend. We have folk and rock, some pop, some jazz and some blues. There’s going to be a wide variety of family friendly music. It’s going to be a wide range of talent, anywhere from kids involved in the School of Rock to nationally-acclaimed acts, many of which have roots here in Bucks County. We will also feature a Kids Zone at State and Pine streets featuring a wide range of art-making stations and other activities.”

What will the public experience at the festival?

“This is a celebration of creativity and community. And whether you are there to buy art, to see art or to create art, it’s really a ‘choose your own adventure.’

“The streets are shut down. It’s a completely pedestrian zone. You can wander the historic streets of Doylestown in a way that you rarely can and across those streets you’re going to get to meet face-to-face with real artists who are showcasing their work and sometimes they are creating
their work live right in front of you. You can also interact with our local museums and engage in their activities or hang out at a stage and listen to some live music. The great thing about it is you can come in, have a great time for zero dollars.”

What is the arts festival all about?

“What really became clear to us during COVID is how critical these events are to the community, both in the way they bring the community together for positive celebrations but also in the economic sense that the commerce and tourism that they drive is critical to our local business community. And that’s not just for the brick and mortar shops and restaurants, but the people who are on the street - these local artists and musicians who are trying to sustain a livelihood as well.

“We saw in 2020 when this didn’t happen and what the impact of that was. What we saw last year was so invigorating because it drove home how much people missed it and how much people need events like this.

“When we set out to plan the festival each year we have four high level goals in mind. One is to spotlight Doylestown and Bucks County and its diverse artistic community. Two is to drive tourism and economic support to the local community by bringing these large scale events to town. The third is to support the local art scene by creating an immersive marketplace where anyone can find a piece of art and take it home while supporting a local artist. And the last one is to bring these events, these experiences out to a place where everyone in the community can experience it. It’s raising accessibility to the arts in a very real way.”

What makes Sunday a unique day to visit the festival?

“That’s the day the Bucks County Classic is also in town with cyclists from around the world. It’s such an interesting mixture - cycling and art. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a weekend like this in a town of this size anywhere in America. When you look at Doylestown, one of the two things people around here are most passionate about, I would say art and cycling are near or at the top of that list. It’s a really interesting dynamic and one that people might not expect to find. What
works well about it is it provides a well rounded experience. Those who are into the sports side of things have something they can enjoy. Those who like the arts have the festival to enjoy. And overall it makes it a huge weekend for Doylestown.”

Where can you park?

The committee recommends using the two parking garages in town - Broad and Union and Court and Broad. Doylestown DART will be running a free shuttle from the Broad and Union garage. The lot at Broad and Court is an easy walk to the festival grounds. Details about handicapped parking can be found on the event’s website.

The Doylestown Arts Festival is presented by Discover Doylestown and is made possible by The Thompson Organization and the festival’s generous sponsors.

Founded in 1991 by a small volunteer group of businesses and residents, the festival is now celebrating 31 years of showcasing creativity in Bucks County. The highly anticipated two-day street festival attracts thousands of visitors each year.

For complete Doylestown Arts Festival details, click here.