25th Annual Manayunk Arts Festival is This Weekend

The annual Manayunk Arts Festival, the region’s largest outdoor juried arts festival, will be held this Saturday and Sunday, June 21 and 22. 

Approximately 300 artists from across the country will participate by showcasing their work along historic Main Street. As many as 200,000 spectators typically come out for the event.

The Manayunk Arts Festival, put on annually by the Manayunk Development Corporation and Manayunk.com, is free to the public and will feature artists from seven different disciplines, including fiber, glass and ceramics, jewelry, wood and sculpture, painting and drawing, mixed media and photography.

The festival will run on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 pm and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Manayunk Development Corporation Exective Director Jane Lipton, who was a volunteer at the first Manayunk Arts Festival in 1990, said the evolution of the event has been remarkable. 

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years already, but here we are and it’s fantastic,” said Lipton. “I honestly don’t know how, but every year the quality and uniqueness of the artwork gets better and better. I feel it’s a testament to the growing art scene in Manayunk, Philadelphia and beyond,” Lipton said. 

Lipton said this year’s jurors were extremely impressed with the artistic breadth of submissions.

For the third year, local and budding talent will be featured in the Emerging Artist Tent located at the intersection of Main Street and Roxborough Ave.

According to organizers, 30 artists will display their work in the tent throughout the weekend. Local resident Jared Oriel, a local artist who just completed his first year of college at the Pratt Institute, will be featured in the Emerging Artist tent.

To kick off the festival weekend, Manayunk will welcome the Summer Solstice with the Manayunk Solstice Fire starting at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Summer Solstice event will be held along the Manayunk Canal and will feature activities for all ages including an animal show, dance performances and the lighting of 12 floating bonfires to celebrate the solstice.