A Message from Mayor Doyle

Mayor James E. Doyle

Now in its 12th year, the City’s Pawtucket Arts Festival—one of the largest festivals of its kind in all of New England—continues to showcase a wide array of visual, musical, performing and culinary arts. Our official web-site provides you the complete details about our month-long festival, which will take place from Aug. 5-Sept. 26, and we encourage you to read more about the exciting events that await you.

Our dynamic 2010 schedule is a sure-to-please blending new and the always popular events. We’ve added, for example, “A Gallery Night” in the City’s Historic Downtown and “Open Studios” in the Pawtucket mills to promote our local visual artist community. We are pleased to again bring attention to other cultural groups in our City, specifically the Greek culture (at the 83nd Annual Greek Village Festival, a Pre-Festival event, and the Chinese culture (the annual Dragon Boat Races). “Rocktucket “10,” a block party in the City’s historic downtown, celebrates its 2nd year and again features live music. This year we bring you music with the opening of The Met at the Hope Artiste Village.

We are pleased that Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart with special guest Kenny Loggins comes to Pawtucket to perform on Sept. 4. This event begins at 7:30 p.m. and takes place at McCoy Stadium. Come enjoy this great night of entertainment. A portion of your ticket purchase will benefit Hasbro Hospital in Providence.. Ticket information can be easily obtained by going to www.pawsox.com or by calling 401-724-5200.

By popular demand we are bringing back other activities and performers, such as the Slater Mill Labor and Ethnic Heritage Festival, the widely-acclaimed “Pops in the Park” (featuring the Rhode Island Philharmonic), the Stone Soup Folk and Arts Fest, internationally renowned Curley Taylor and Zydeco Troubles, music and the poetry of Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Pawtucket-native Galway Kinnell by Aurea, and many, many others.

Pawtucket Arts Festival’s theatre events includes plays by The Gamm Theatre, “Glengarry Glen Ross,” Mixed Magic Theatre, “The Greatness of Gospel: Down by the Riverside III,” and the Community Players, “Charley Brown.”

Meanwhile, over six nights, the Pawtucket Film Festival, with an admission fee of $10 per showing, brings a number of interesting feature and short films, combined with live music and a reception.

Like last year, in scheduling all of these activities to thrill your eyes and ears, we didn’t forget your palates: Samplings from some of our finest restaurants are again yours to savor at “A Taste of Pawtucket,” which easily ranks as our City’s biggest and most widely recognized block party, scheduled for Aug. 27!

There’s simply too much to list here, so again—browse this website or get a program at the City’s Visitor Center, and contact us if you have any questions.

Economic hardship is still forcing many Rhode Islanders to cancel travel or vacation plans and instead make the most of “Stay-Cations.” We believe this year’s festival offers the perfect solution: activities that not only will please everyone and are close to home, but are mostly free to the public or nominally priced (at $10).

As in previous years, all musical and artistic programming is family-friendly and geared for all age groups. Best of all, local talents—your neighbors, your friends, your fellow Rhode Islanders—produce the vast majority of what you experience at this festival. This is, in many ways, our wonderful City and State and the many treasures that are in grand abundance are right here at home.

We are pleased that our local business community continues to step up to the plate in commendably strong support of the arts and this year’s festival. We thank them deeply and they are listed also on this website. They join us, we know, in thanking the festival’s most important ingredient of all: You.

Enjoy…