BETHEL – Father’s Day takes on extra meaning this weekend when creativity takes center stage at the Midsummer Festival.

Organizers bill the festival as a free, non-commercial celebration by and for creative people of all ages. Among the new events is a full-armor recreation of a battle from the War of the Roses by a group of medieval re-enactors from Bath, who call themselves, The Neville Companye.

The group, which portrays the military retinue of Sir Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, during the War of the Roses (1377-1485), is an affiliate chapter of the British Plate Armour Society of the United Kingdom.

Midsummer Festival events begin at 10 a.m. with a Science of the Solstice presentation at the McLaughlin Science Center at Gould Academy.

Storytelling about the earth starts at 11 a.m. in the Bethel Library on Broad Street. It will be for all ages.

From 11 a.m. to noon, entrants in the zany Sculpture Race around the town common are to assemble. The race is from noon to 2 p.m. For more information about the race, visit www.smasheasy.com/race.html.

The rest of the festival takes place a half mile west of Bethel on Route 2 at The Meadow.

From 2 to 4 p.m., there will be arts, crafts and activities for adults and children. A drumming circle begins at 2 p.m., and at 2:30 p.m., Highland Mary Morris dancers are to entertain with traditional dances of the British Isles.

At 3 p.m., a traditional maypole-like dance for children – Midsummer Birch – begins.

At 4 p.m., Celtic music is to be performed by Kristin Tescher and Nick Apollonio. Events at The Meadow are handicapped accessible. For more information, phone 824-3246 or 824-3170, or visit www.smasheasy.com/midsummerfestivalsche.html.

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