Planners at the Community Arts Network of Oneonta are promising an enchanting time this weekend.
The nonprofit arts organization will host “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a fairy-themed festival, from 4 to 9 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 24.
CANO Executive Director Hope Von Stengel said the event has been planned for “several months.”
“It’s inspired by Shakespeare’s play and … it’s basically split into two parts,” she said. “There will be vendors from 4 to 8 outside on CANO grounds and we’ll have musicians, artists, makers and art installations, arts and craft activities — like making fairy wands — and we’ll have AJ’s Smokin’ BBQ food truck and just all sorts of decorations that make it feel fairy fest-themed. We have a tarot reader and someone taking Polaroids and a few photo-op-type installations outside. And some of our vendors are making one-of-a-kind creations just for this event.”
The second part of the event, she said is for those 21 and older. It is ticketed and will start at 6 p.m. inside the Wilber Mansion.
“The whole downstairs will be transformed into a fairy wonderland,” Von Stengel said. “Local artist Megan Joubert has created one-of-a-kind pieces that are part of the art installations inside and we’ll have music at 7 p.m. and there’s a performance by (area belly-dancing troupe) the Lunachix and Priscilla Bow, doing fairy-themed burlesque.”
Reading from provided literature, Von Stengel said that indoor performers will “enchant the audience with their bewitching, fairy-themed performance … and weave a spellbinding narrative through dance, bringing the mystical world of fairies to life.”
Tickets for the indoor portion of the event can be purchase at canoneonta.org and presales are encouraged, as a similar, speakeasy-themed event held last year sold out. The outdoor portion is free and open to the public, Von Stengel said. “We will let the public come inside the mansion until 6 p.m. to see the art installations inside, so the public does have an opportunity to see that. Our events committee has been working hard at transforming the inside of the mansion,” she said.
Von Stengel said organizers envisioned the event as a summer sendoff, while furthering CANO’s mission to, according to canoneonta.org, “provide or facilitate artistic presentations to thousands of people in the region.”
“We focus all summer long on our summer arts program and, for the most part, we don’t have exhibitions,” she said. “And the programming is for kids and teens, so this is just a great way to end the summer before we launch into the City of the Hills festival in a few weeks.
“Dressing up is definitely encouraged; we purchased fairy wings, and some of the vendors have outfits they are wearing, specific to the event, so there will definitely be people decked out in fairy gear,” she said. “We thought it would be really wonderful to have it sometime later in the summer and I think, too, it’s just such a fun theme.”
For more information or to reserve tickets to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” visit canoneonta.org or find “Community Arts Network of Oneonta (CANO)” on Facebook.