CONSHOHOCKEN — The late pop artist Andy Warhol once declared: “I see art in everything. Your shoes. That car. This coffee cup. It’s art if you see it as art.”
That said, Warhol would have a field day at June 1’s Conshohocken Arts Festival and Car Show (rain date June 8) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Non-profit Destination Conshohocken hosts the annual Fayette Street gathering, and proceeds directly benefit Conshohocken Art League and programs related to cardiac disease and mental health as well as other local non-profits as-needed.
As usual, the upcoming event will feature a variety of fine art and crafts, vehicles vying for trophies, live music and hundreds of people wearing shoes and sipping from coffee cups.
“We’re at record numbers for cars … vendors and sponsorships this year — way beyond where we were last year — so that’s very exciting,” Conshohocken Mayor Yaniv Aronson said. “Pizza Time Saloon, here in town, is our car show sponsor, and Conicelli, which has been with us for a long time, is great. They pull up with a train of cars and park and hang out for the day, which is awesome.”
New this year, a touch-a-truck display of borough vehicles — everything from police cars to the borough street cleaner and Conshohocken Cab.
“We’re really looking to show off a lot of the services the borough offers that people might not know about,” Aronson said. “So this should be an interesting visual for the older residents and just a lot of fun for the younger residents, stepping into a police car or onto the Conshy Cab.”
The latter is a 14-passenger shuttle that stops at 20 borough locations in a continuous loop (specifics at www.conshohockenpa.org/living-visiting/conshohocken-cab).
“Conshy Cab has been doing well,” Aronson said. “It’s a good way for people, especially our riverfront residents, to get into town in a way that’s really efficient without having to use their cars and take up parking.
“We have major growth along the river. That’s where the big complexes are going up, and the challenge is finding ways to bring them into the borough proper to our restaurants and other small businesses. It’s a good problem to have. We had brown fields and abandoned factories there for years and years. Now, there are these beautiful complexes with people who can potentially volunteer with our non-profits and support our businesses.
“There’s so much going on here. The Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings, festivals like ours and the (AMBUCS) Restaurant Rally, sprinkler nights, concerts in the parks. Conshy Cab can be a key part of that for people.”
According to Aronson, the day’s live music program will play out on stages at Masonic Lodge and Conshohocken Free Library with performers Roberta Faceplant, Emily Drinker, Yellow Moon, Doug Wartman, Carrie Zaruba, Rob Tait, John Faye and Katie Feeney.
“Katie is the new music director for the festival,” he said. “She’s with a band called You Do You, and she’s been awesome. She works with the most talented people, so with Katie, you know the music is going to be extraordinary.
“We also have a lot of non-profits that’ll have booths at the festival … a voter registration table. So, it’s not just vendors. Some wonderful non-profits will have access to a few thousand people to get their message out to. Basically, we just want people to come out and have fun. It’s a way to bring everyone together before school ends and people start going on vacations. Kind of the official kick-off to summer in Conshohocken.”
Product Investigations is the festival’s presenting sponsor, and the event is also supported by the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board.
Check-in for car show participants is 8:30 a.m. at 1101 Fayette St. “All vehicles” are welcome, and some 20 awards are in the offing. Additional car show information: 610-937-6018 and gquinn5908@aol.com. Performance schedule for musicians: www.conshohockenartsfestival.com/music. General information: www.conshohockenartsfestival.com.
