People’s Choice Festival is in a new spot for the first time. Here’s where and why
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Summer fests return
Here’s what you need to know for the first in-person Arts Fest and People’s Choice Festival in two years.
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The People’s Choice Festival of Pennsylvania is returning this month, but it will be in a different location than the one it’s had for nearly three decades.
The annual “homegrown festival,” celebrating the work of Pennsylvania artists, will be held at the Grange Park in Centre Hall, July 14-17. Since 1993, the festival has been held at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg.
In a press release last year, organizers said new circumstances made staying at the museum “untenable.” A contract proposal from the Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission didn’t include the possibility of hosting the festival at the museum beyond 2022.
A spokesperson for the museum previously told the CDT that the decision was based on a number of factors, “the most critical being that the festival had outgrown our facility and our ability to host the event.”
Organizers decided that after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year was the best time to make the transition to a new location.
“We just talked about it for a long time because moving was very hard. With two years off, we thought it was the perfect time to make the move and Grange Park has been so wonderful and so accommodating and offering so many other options for us out there,” Cindy Rockey, co-director of the festival, said Wednesday.
Rockey said the location is much bigger and can not only accommodate more parking in one place, but no one will have to cross the street.
“There was a terrible traffic situation in Boalsburg. People would park across the street and then have to be crossed and to do that safely, you have to have traffic control. Which we will have out there for the cars but no people will be crossing the streets,” she said.
This year’s festival will feature 160 artists, 28 food vendors, 16 specialty food vendors and nine wineries. Live music will be performed and inflatables and bouncy houses will be set up for kids.
“COVID caused a lot of people to have to find other work because they couldn’t do fairs and stuff. So our vendors are down,” Rockey said. “We had a number of people who have been with us for 27 years and retired. We do expect that it will start growing again.”
The food vendor and artisan tents will circle the field, according to the festival’s Facebook, and inside the circle will be two entertainment tents that can seat around 400 people each, an activity tent, an emergency medical personnel tent, large dining area tents, four drink booths, and four rest areas.
An event map can be found online at peopleschoicefestival.com/event-map.
Here’s what to know ahead of the festival:
When & where is it?
The People’s Choice Festival is set for July 14-17. Hours are 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and noon until 5 p.m. Sunday.
The only gate open to enter Grange Park will be Gate 4, located at 149 Homan Lane, Centre Hall, along state Route 45. The pedestrian gate will not be open, but people may walk in through Gate 4.
Is there a fee for admission?
Admission to the festival is free, but festival parking is $6/day.
Will there be a shuttle?
A festival shuttle bus will run round trips four times a day. The stops include Weis Market on Martin Street, Ollies on South Atherton Street and the Mount Nittany Middle School. Rides are $5 round trip.
Once at the Grange Park, free shuttle golf carts will be available to assist people in getting around the grounds.
Interested in camping?
Holding the festival at Grange Park allows for RV camping to be offered, something Rockey said is an “added benefit.”
“Not only the artisans but any patron who wants to make it a mini-vacation for two days or four days or whatever, can also camp,” Rockey said.
Sites have electric and water hook-ups and range from $50 to $55/night. Grange Park RV camping reservations can be made at www.grangefair.com or by calling 814-954-2088.
This story was originally published July 7, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
