NORWAY — The 47th annual celebration of visual and performing arts will kick off Thursday with the opening of the Norway Arts Festival.

The Western Maine Arts Group and Norway Downtown co-sponsor the annual festival, which will be held July 10-13. In addition to a sidewalk arts sale, the festival includes crafts, dance, theater and live music performances from over 75 vendors, drawing thousands of people to the community.

The event will kick off Thursday with a tribute to stories of famed Norway horse-harness maker and Norway Bank founder Cyrus Shaw Tucker, whose name lives on in Tucker’s Pub and through his descendants. Locals will read love letters between Tucker and wife-to-be, Kate Dennison, thought to have been penned during the Civil War.

Organizer Andrea Burns of Norway Downtown billed the event as “fun for the whole family” and said it would be held rain or shine.

Friday will feature musician Dan Coyle at Tucker’s Pub from 6 to 9 p.m.

On Saturday, Main Street will be closed to traffic to create a pedestrian mall stretching from the Norway Memorial Library to the Advertiser Democrat block at the corner of Pikes Hill Road. Musicians, dancers and poets will perform from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Awards for artists’ entries will be handed out for best of show, as well as first and second-place prizes for painting, photography and sculpture. The event is a juried show and cash prizes will be awarded. There is also a Purchase Awards Program that offers sponsorship of artwork by individuals and businesses, as well as awards ribbons to artists.

The event will culminate Sunday, July 13, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly renovated Lajos Matolscy Center at 480 Main St. from 5 to 7 p.m. On display will be artwork of the founders and charter members of the art group, including many paintings never before shown to the public.

Typically closed due to its condition, tours of the second floor of the historic opera house will be given Sunday to raise awareness for the building.

Parking is available behind the Fare Share Co-Op, at the Town Hall lot and residential streets, where permitted.

A full schedule can be found online at norwayartsfestival.org.