Harrisburg Artsfest continues tradition of creativity and community
Story and photos by Alex Foley
Knightly News Reporter
For nearly 60 years, the Harrisburg Artsfest has brought artists, musicians and festivalgoers to downtown Harrisburg each Memorial Day weekend. This year, thousands once again gathered in Riverfront Park for the 58th annual celebration of art, music and community.
Although the festival boasts its 58-year run, the actual history of the Harrisburg Artsfest was a bit of a mystery. Despite this, one thing remains certain: the festival is a summer staple for the city.
The Mystery of the History
David J. Morrison, the executive director of the Historic Harrisburg Association, shed light on the history of the Harrisburg Artsfest. Morrison was the chairperson of the Harrisburg Artsfest during the late 1980s.
The first question was which year the festival first occurred. Online records were sparse, and the records that were available contradicted each other.
“The generally accepted answer is 1968,” stated Morrison. “However, the exact first year has become unclear over time.”
Morrison explained that people tend to use the terms “the first” and “the first annual” interchangeably, and by doing so, the official first year’s date has been lost.
The Harrisburg Artfest began in the plaza located behind the State Museum of Pennsylvania. In 1968, the museum was debuting its newest program, referred to as the “Art of the State” exhibition.
This showcase featured artists from across Pennsylvania. It exhibited painters, sculptors, photographers and artists of all kinds. The showcase still runs to this day.
While the Art of the State exhibition was running indoors, the Harrisburg Artsfest was running outdoors with vendors lining the plaza. The original overseer of the festival was the now-defunct Greater Harrisburg Arts Council.
Over the next two decades, the festival grew into a presence of its own and eventually detached itself from the Art of the State showcase.
In the 1990s, the city of Harrisburg and the council decided to move the festival to Riverfront Park along the Susquehanna River, where it has remained since.
“The Harrisburg Artsfest evolved with the times,” Morrison stated.
It was in the 1990s that management of the event was taken over by the city. Harrisburg had been branching out into the specialty-events realm for a few years at that point, and the Harrisburg Artsfest was the next step.
“In the olden days, cities used to just plow snow and issue parking tickets, but Harrisburg was branching into the entertainment business,” he explained.
Morrison elaborated that, “Harrisburg is now very good at running special events. It was a natural evolution, and that is how the Artsfest has continued to thrive.”
Harrisburg Artsfest 2026
This year’s festival brought together juried artists, metalworkers and leatherworkers, textile artists, ceramic sculptors, jewelry makers and more. The festival also featured several musical attractions, including Jazzfest and acts at the UPMC State Street Stage. The Harrisburg Artsfest also featured activities for children called Kidsfest.
Meeting the artists
Many artists shared their histories, stories and inspirations behind their artwork. Festivalgoers offered their opinions and experiences as well.
Marina Radanivic – @Radanovic_Art on Instagram | @Radanovic.Art on Facebook | Radanovic.Myportfolio.com
Marina Radanivic displayed her original paintings. Radanivic spoke about her journey with painting and what inspires her work. Radanivic also displays artwork in galleries.
“I went to school for graphic design, but I realized halfway through that graphic design wasn’t for me. So, I switched to fine art,” explained Radanivic.
Radanivic graduated with a degree in drawing and relief printmaking, and after graduating, decided to pursue painting. Radanivic painted throughout high school and took painting classes in college, so the medium was familiar.
Radanivic spoke about what inspires her work.
“I take inspiration from all sorts of things. Sometimes it’s a dream. Sometimes it’s observations from the world, or if I just happen to snap a photo that fits, I can make it into a composition.”
Lora Russell – @LoraRussellPaintings on Instagram | @L.RussellPaintings on Facebook | LoraRussellPaintings.com
Lora Russell displayed her unique style of paintings. Russell described her artistic process and journey of self-expression through art.
“I was kind of born an artist, but I spent time honing my skills. For 20 years, I did watercolor portraits. Watercolor is very picture-perfect proper. I was also a people pleaser. About six years ago, I had a rebellion against the picture-perfect, people-pleasing attitude, for art and in my life.”
Russell’s paintings now feature colorful, free-flowing and expressive designs.
“One day, I just took everything outside and started throwing paint authentically. I don’t think I was ever an authentic painter before. (My art now) is happy, free-flowing, colorful, vibrant. It’s almost like I just grew as a person and as an artist, and I became extremely happy.”
Carolyn Garay – @DisheveledArtMess on Instagram | @RottingRainbows on Facebook | CarolynGaray.com
Carolyn Garay discussed her technical artistic training and choice of medium. Garay’s work leans heavily into imagery of portals and otherworldly beings. The paintings feature lots of space and nature. She attributes these qualities to her worldview.
“In general, I think of my paintings as an expression of my inner world and parts of self. I have always been interested in the idea of how we can never see the world from outside of our own perspectives, yet we still try to.”
Garay spoke about her undergraduate degree program and how that eventually led her to pursue oil painting.
“I’ve been oil painting for about 13 years now and drawing since forever. In undergrad, I dual majored in both art and chemistry, but I remember no chemistry. Afterwards, I followed the art path and started showing my work at the Ann Arbor Fair. Eventually, I built up to doing shows full time and have been doing that for the last four years.”
Katie Trainer – @KatieTrainer.Murals.Art on Instagram | @Katie.Trainer.Magic on Facebook | Katie-Trainer.com
Katie Trainer ran this year’s community art project, an annual tradition for the Harrisburg Artsfest.
This year featured paintings from more than 500 festivalgoers on 24 sheets of parachute fabric. Eventually, these sheets will be stitched together into a banner displaying everyone’s work.
Previous years’ community art projects include the 2024 Fish of City Island project and the 2025 Block Print Planter Art displayed throughout downtown Harrisburg.
People on the Street
Lorenzo Hoban
York, Pennsylvania
This year was Hoban’s second time coming to the Harrisburg Arts Fest.
Hoban praised the originality of the artwork at the festival, saying, “Even with the rise of generative AI art, I haven’t seen any artists trying to sell it here.”
Karen and Don Carrick
Reading, Pennsylvania
This was Karen and Don Carrick’s second year attending the Harrisburg Arts Fest.
When asked what brought them back, Karen Carrick replied:
“We just had such a great time in the past, so we had to come back.”
Despite parts of the festival’s history being lost over time, the Harrisburg Arts Fest still brings people together year after year. Whether it was artists sharing their work, families walking along Riverfront Park or festivalgoers stopping to talk with vendors, the event once again showed why it has remained such an important part of Harrisburg for nearly six decades.
Foley is the co-vice-president of The Knightly News Media Club @ Central Penn College.
