Alva Review-Courier -

The culmination of several months of planning for the 52nd Nescatunga Arts Festival and 2nd Sugar Show will take place this weekend kicking off Friday, June 2, at 6 p.m. at a new location – the campus of Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. The festival continues Saturday and Sunday, June 3-4.

In case of rain, all outside entertainment plans will be moved inside Percefull Fieldhouse, and fun outdoor activities will be evaluated as needed.

Approximately 55 fine artists, crafters, authors and sugar show artists from 27 different communities in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri will be in Percefull Fieldhouse and the Health and Sports Science Education building. A few fine artists and crafters will have booth spaces set up outside just north of Percefull Fieldhouse. If it rains, every attempt will be made to help the handful of artists who opted to be outside on the lawn find a spot inside if they so choose.

Twenty-four diverse acts are scheduled to entertain all three days of the festival.

Artist, craft and author booths will be open for business from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday for the annual First Friday Artwalk events, and five entertainment acts will take place outside just south of Percefull Fieldhouse.

A full day of festival fun will take place Saturday, June 3, starting with opening ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. inside Percefull Fieldhouse. All booths will again be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Percefull Fieldhouse and the HSSE small gym and outside. Ten live entertainment acts will take place inside during this time as well. There will be a small break Saturday from 4-6 p.m. to reset the sound, then four entertainment acts will continue outside on the lawn until 10 p.m.

The last day of the festival is Sunday, June 4, from noon to 3 p.m. with booths and four live entertainment acts.

Food trucks will be set up south of Percefull Fieldhouse all three days, and the festival will offer a concession area on the north end of Percefull Fieldhouse from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The Gourmet Food Booth will be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Percefull Fieldhouse. Any volunteer bakers and snack-makers are asked to deliver their best goodies for the booth no later than 8 a.m. on that Saturday. Nicki Chaffee is once again heading up this table. Questions can be directed to her at 580-430-5450.

Several fun and free activities are scheduled to entertain and delight those attending the festival as well both inside and outside on the lawn south of Percefull Fieldhouse. A full slate of activities will take place all three days.

An additional artist/crafter has entered the festival since the last article was written about those attending. Candice Hopkins from Cleveland, Oklahoma, will be bringing several items including custom shirts and cups, hand towels, earrings, wreaths, hats, purses, wallets, car freshies and toys.

There also are now 10 contestants in the Sugar Show. April Decker of Alva has joined the competition and has entered as a professional in the non-edible dummy cake category and Aspiring Sugar Artist in the edible and cupcake categories. Her entries are titled “Just Monkeying Around.”

Three hands-on workshops open to the public are also being planned following the contest starting at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in Northwestern’s Science Amphitheatre, just north of Percefull Fieldhouse.

At 1 p.m. will be a cookie decorating workshop for aspiring adults of three summer-themed cookies – a flamingo, watermelon and hibiscus flower - led by Autry Technology Center in Enid instructor Lisa Hills open to 15 people. At 2 p.m., a cookie decorating workshop for children will be led by Burlington sugar artist Tamre McGinnis and open to 10 people. The last workshop of the day will be at 3 p.m. and will be cake decorating for aspiring adults using fondant to create a cute cow cake, led by Ridgway open to 10 people.

These workshops will provide everything needed to decorate the participants’ cookies and cakes and take them home along with a little goodie bag of items and a laminated recipe card for the cookies and icing.

Each workshop is $10 and is first come/first paid. Those wishing to attend the workshops should contact April Ridgway at 580-917-0101 or [email protected].

To learn more about the 27 Alva businesses taking part in the Poppin’ Around Alva shopping event, visit http://www.nescatunga.org/poppin. These businesses have donated prizes to be given away on Sunday at 2 p.m. Must be present to win.

Shoppers can pick up a “punch card” at the festival or inside one of the 27 businesses and make three purchases to get their card “punched” at those businesses. Once three punches have been collected on the card, the shopper must bring the card back and deposit it in a container near the indoor entertainment stage no later than 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Visit http://www.nescatunga.org/blog to see the list of 24 entertainment acts and their bios, additional info about family fun activities, fine artists/crafters/authors attending, Sugar Show entries, the Gourmet Food Booth and more.

Cash donations and yearly $25 memberships to the Nescatunga Arts and Humanities Council are open to anyone interested in supporting the arts. Checks may be mailed to P.O. Box 152, Alva, OK 73717 or payments may be made via Nescatunga’s PayPal account by searching for the email [email protected].

The core group of Nescatunga Arts and Humanities Council, Inc., members who have been planning this event include Erin Davis, president; Kristy San Soucie, vice president and Poppin' Around Alva chair; April Ridgway, secretary and Sugar Show chair; Heather Penner, treasurer; Angelia Case, registration chair; Valarie Case, publicity/webmaster/social media chair; Nicki Chaffee, Gourmet Food Booth chair; Carter Combs, entertainment chair; Taylor Dowling, hospitality chair; Dr. Roxie James, volunteer and name tag chair; and member Elda Jones, and a number of other volunteers set to help out during the three-day event.

More information about the festival is available on the website at http://www.nescatunga.org or by visiting the festival’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nescatungaarts.

The Nescatunga Arts Festival is sponsored by the Nescatunga Arts and Humanities Council, Inc., in cooperation with the Alva Chamber of Commerce, the City of Alva Tourism Committee and NWOSU.