The Norway Summer Festival packs a lot of variety and fun into its weekend of events July 7-9. There will be a major sidewalk art show, a free outdoor dance with music by Stream Reggae, performances that span the spectrum from poetry to old-time fiddle music and ukelele tunes, a lobster roll luncheon, children’s activities, book sales and art exhibits.
Most activities are slated for Saturday, July 8, including the 34th Annual Sidewalk Art Show on Main Street. “Last year’s art show had 61 artists,” said Eris Sessions, festival coordinator. “We’ll have at least that many and perhaps more.”
The sidewalk exhibits have grown to include more than paintings and photographs, Sessions said. “This year, we have opened it up to anyone who feels their work fits under the description of an art form.” There will be a culinary arts category, as well as fabric, ceramics and other media.
“I found out today that an 8-year-old girl is planning to enter this year. I think that may be a first, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s wonderful to see this tradition being taken seriously by a new generation in Oxford Hills,” Sessions said.
The sidewalk art show originated through the efforts of the Western Maine Art Group, which included area artists and several students of Lajos Matolcsy. He was a noted and popular Oxford Hills art teacher from the years following World War II until his death in 1982.
Spotlight on Matolcsy
The Norway Summer Festival focuses on a significant cultural figure of the region each year. Matolcsy’s career and accomplishments will be spotlighted this year. Born in Hungary in 1905, Matolcsy taught art there before World War II led him into the resistance against Germany and later against the Soviet Union. He was in a German prison camp before escaping from Hungary to Germany in 1945.
Matolcsy came to the United States in 1951 and married Clair Couri of Portland, an accomplished dancer and instructor, in 1959. They settled in Norway, where his studio became a beloved institution for artists. It is still located on Main Street.
An exhibition of works by Matolcsy and by Lee Bean, one of his students who has become an established area artist in recent years, will open at the Norway Memorial Library with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 7.
The sidewalk art show is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. About a dozen food vendors will be on hand, including a grill manned by Walter Herbert Cornell III, popular longtime cook at Barjo’s Restaurant. Applications for a spot among the sidewalk exhibits will be accepted through 9 a.m. Saturday.
A $400 purchase award-winning piece of art will be given to a member of the public who signs in at boxes located at BooksNThings, 100 Aker Wood, Norway Memorial Library, Cattails, Western Auto of Norway, Colonial Coffee Shop, Arsenault’s Satellite TV, Goin’ Postal, Christian Science Reading Room, The Trolley House, and the Norway Historical Society.
Book sale, fiddle jam
Friends of the Norway Library will hold a used-book sale at the American Legion from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday on Main Street. The sale will continue through Saturday.
The fifth annual Mellie Dunham Fiddle Jam will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside The Weary Club. “It’s a loosely organized open jam,” said David Sanderson, coordinator of this event. “We set up on the porch and play all kinds of music.”
This celebration of the old-time music of Norway’s noted fiddler and snowshoe maker will include music performed by Lona Noble Bedard, Dunham’s granddaughter, and other members of her family.
Sanderson also said there might be a repeat appearance by Esther Nava, an area resident who was a singer with the Bobby Hackett swing band.
Children’s activities will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Norway Memorial Library, Boxberry School in Witherell Park and at the Second Congregational Church.
A lobster roll luncheon will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Second Congregational Church, and there will be a chicken pie lunch and yard sale from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.at the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Both are on Main Street.
Mary Ukelady and the Hillsmen’s Chorus will perform 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday on the library porch, followed by Poets on the Porch from 1 to 3 p.m.
A free reggae concert and dance will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. behind the Fare Share Coop building. Caribbean rhythms of Nyah Henderson and Stream Reggae, one of Maine’s premier reggae bands, will be featured. The four-piece, high-energy group plays at festivals throughout New England. Henderson came to Maine in 1997, following years of experience playing reggae in the islands. The group recently released its second CD, “Mission of Love.”
There is a Sunday rain date for the sidewalk art exhibit, if needed. There was a rain delay last year, but Sessions hopes that doesn’t happen this year. That would create a conflict with the 5K race, Sunday’s big event.
The Oxford Hills 5K Run To the Lake and Fun Walk will start at 7:45 a.m. at Marston and Beal streets, move down Beal to Cottage Street, down Cottage to Main Street and on to Pennesseewassee Lake, around the rest area and back to Norway Savings Bank on Main Street.
A 1K Kids Fun Run will start at Winter Street, go down Beal Street to Cottage, to Main Street and back to Norway Savings Bank.
For more information about the festival and registrations, go to the Web site at www.downtownnorway.com.
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