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Mattoon Street fest features art, food, entertainment

SPRINGFIELD The annual Mattoon Arts Festival will take place Sept. 10 and 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Springfield. This free arts and crafts show is held on a street lined with restored brick Victoria row houses in the city's first historic district. Now in its 33rd year, it is also one of the oldest arts and crafts shows in western Massachusetts.

The festival features original works created by painters, photographers, potters, jewelers, weavers, glass workers, and other talented craftspeople. Most of the 90 exhibitors are from the Pioneer Valley. Exhibiting from Springfield will be artists Awilda Oxios, Caleb Colon, Ellie Dias, and Omarthan Clarke; photographers Jack Holowitz and John Ramos; ceramist Maurice Kelliher; glassworker Heidi Hilbig; floral crafter Kevin Wallace; crafter Rick Morest; woodworkers Reese and Alice Dezan; soapmaker Susan Mann; jewelers Paula Proulx, Amelia Ramos and Meg Pash; and clothiers Sheila Bracani, Sheila Marshall, and Diane Evans.

A special event on Saturday between 2-5 p.m. will feature a tour of the tiny townhouse gardens not seen from the street. Tickets for the Garden Tour are $5 and can be purchased that day.

Entertainment will include magician PJ Pinsonnault, violinist Stacis Filipiak, classical guitarist Judy Simmonds, Celtic harpist Pat Larkin, Down Memory Lane Barbershop Quartet, Bill Glenny's Dixieland Duo, Irish fiddler John Dorrington, flutist Meg Pash, and accordionist Jim Dascanio. Mexitalia Restaurant, Moe's Dogs, Stefan's Polish Deli, and Hispanic Baptist Church will offer a variety of food.

Mattoon Street is four blocks east of I-91 Exit 7. There are free festival parking lots, plus on-street parking is free on weekends.

For info, contact Robert McCarroll at 736-0629 or www.mattoonfestival.org