For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 10, 2020
The COVID-19 health crisis has led to many changes in activities planned for 2020, including to the Fourth Annual Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival. However, even with a new look for this year, the Wheaton Arts Parade will again bring art to the streets of Downtown Wheaton. It also will have a virtual festival of art.
The traditional one-day celebration will become a two-week event, starting Sunday, Sept. 20. This year’s event will have art installations placed around the downtown area so visitors can experience the works of local artists day or night. The arts presentations also can be viewed virtually. At noon on opening day, County Executive Marc Elrich and County Council President Sidney Katz will kick off the festival by unveiling an eight-foot pyramid in the first event on the new Marian Fryer Town Plaza. The plaza, on Reedie Drive, is adjacent to the recently opened 14-story County office building.
The “Path of Pyramids” and “Yarn Bomb” themed event will have eight-foot and four-foot high works of art painted and sculpted by local artists and installed around Downtown Wheaton from the town plaza to the Westfield Wheaton mall. The path also will extend north on Georgia Avenue to the Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center complex.
Among the art on display will be a pyramid created in collaboration with One Montgomery Green using non-recyclable plastics. Another pyramid is a mosaic created by families from Wheaton’s Latinx community as a tribute to their Salvadoran heritage. Linking the pyramids will be the “Yarn Bomb,” color hangings from lampposts that were crocheted by Wheaton area residents.
The Path of Pyramids will be on display through Sunday, Oct. 4.
A map of the pyramid locations is posted on the Wheaton Arts Parade website at https://www.wheatonartsparade.org/map. The map will link to an audio podcast featuring each of the artists whose work is on display.
In addition, there will be a virtual “V-Fest” festival of performances by local musicians, singers, actors and dance companies. The V-Fest will feature short clips from Strathmore Artists in Residence, Adventure Theatre, the Puppet Company, AGT quarter-finalist Kelvin Dukes, Dan Hovey from the Nighthawks and Ratso and Lunch with Bob, Mark Noone and the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours. The schedule and performances will be available at www.wheatonartsparade.org.
The Wheaton Arts Parade is supported in part by the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, the Maryland State Arts Council, Westfield Wheaton, Montgomery Planning, the Limerick Pub, One Montgomery Green, the Maryland Art Association, Kiwanis of Wheaton-Silver Spring, IHOP-Wheaton and the Wheaton-Kensington Chamber of Commerce.
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Release ID: 20-493
Media Contact: Neil H. Greenberger 240-205-1915
