BATH -Imagine a giant chessboard unfolding in Library Park, with children and adults taking the roles of the king, queen, knight, bishop, rook and pawns and playing a life-size game of chess. That is exactly what will happen Saturday, May 20, when Patten Free Library’s chess club moves outside, and players don crowns, costumes and hats to take on their part.
It is a new feature of May Arts in the Park, a family arts festival with a May Day theme, to be held 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Participants can dance around the maypole, become a giant chess player, learn to juggle or create something in an art workshop.
The festival will begin with the call of the bagpipes. Participants are urged to make a crown, add beads and bells to their costumes, and join the musicians’ parade to the maypole. Maypole dancing will begin at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Musicians will accompany Highland Mary as they perform the Morris Dance at 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.
A new feature this year will be the appearance of Madeline, a Corriedale sheep and her new lamb, Blizzard. Kelly Corbett will bring the lamb and its mom for everyone’s enjoyment.
Teenagers Trevor Bostic and Joe Faustine will teach juggling. Art-making workshops will include May basket making and crown making, led by Erica Helgerson and Charlotte Kaplan; and “Beads and Bells,” led by Joanne Marco. Participants can make stick puppets with Georgetown puppeteer Martha Feehan; decorate a flying pennant or “flyangle” with Susan Perrine; or create your family’s coat of arms as a badge or a shield with Brenda Cummings.
Artvan program volunteers will lead shield and jousting stick projects and Patten Free Library Chess Club volunteers, led by Hal Bonner, will teach chess from 11 a.m. to noon and lead the life-size chess game at 12:45p.m.
Refreshments will be for sale, with proceeds benefiting Woolwich and Bowdoinham EMS.
The maypole dance has been a traditional rite of spring since ancient times. May Day marked the changing of the seasons, celebrated fertility, may flowers, the greening earth and the rituals of planting and of returning livestock to summer pastures.
If it rains, the event will take place at the Bath Area Senior Citizen’s Center, 45 Floral St., Bath. For more information, call 798-6964, or go to www. fiveriversartsalliance.org.
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