New ‘small town festival’ in Centre County features art, music, antiques & more

When community members and business owners in Millheim learned Centre County’s Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and People’s Choice Festival were canceled, they decided to host their own weekendlong festival, July 9-11.

The Millheim WalkFest of Arts & Music combines previous plans to host monthly summer events in Millheim with the varying themes of arts, music and antiques.

“When we heard those two events were canceled, we thought, why don’t we combine all three of our event ideas and put them into one?” said Rebecca Larsen, one of the event’s organizers. “We wanted to create something where there was, all of the sudden, a great big void.”

The Millheim WalkFest of Arts & Music will feature approximately 35 artists, 30 bands across six performance spaces, an antique and flea market space and children’s and family activities. All are spread across downtown Millheim, to give attendees a chance to enjoy the walking aspect of the event.

“It’s a small town festival where people can really get an opportunity to enjoy all the arts, all the music and the small town at the same time, without it feeling like chaos or there’s nowhere to find parking,” Larsen said. “They’ll be able to see it all in one day and enjoy the town at the same time, which I think was our goal.”

Appearing artists hail from Centre County, whereas food vendors and musicians are all from, Larsen estimates, within an hour’s drive away. Food vendors vary from day to day and were chosen specifically to compliment the food options already available in downtown Millheim. Around a dozen local nonprofits will also be in attendance to share their missions with the community. The family and children’s spaces will include activities from State College’s Discovery Space and Woodward Camp, as well as farm animals from nearby farms.

“Millheim is awesome,” Larsen said. “It’s a very creative community and it’s filled with a lot of artists and musicians and wicked-cool people that do stuff with antiques and furniture, so we kind of wanted to create something that would bring some energy to our little town and something fun and positive that, at the same time, gives local artists and musicians and small business people a platform to sell their art or get bookings or sell their ice cream or coffee or their wood-fired pizza — give them a platform to continue to stay in business and thrive at what they do.”

The volunteer-run event will benefit several Millheim institutions. After covering costs for musicians and marketing, leftover proceeds will be split between and donated to Millheim’s fire company, library and pool.

For those attending, parking is free. Main parking is available at the intersection of Center and Water streets. Additional parking is available throughout the town. Parking is also available at Burkholder’s Country Market and the Millheim Borough Municipal Office, with free shuttle service provided.

Larsen expects the event to continue next year, but with an August date, so as not to compete with the return of Centre County’s other July festivities. She also mentions potential for another Millheim festival next June, in conjunction with Route 45 Getaways, a new, weeklong event that focuses on food and agriculture along Route 45.

To learn more about the Millheim WalkFest of Arts & Music, visit the event’s Facebook page.