Fine Arts Fiesta kicks off in Wilkes-Barre Thursday

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The 70th annual Fine Arts Fiesta is Thursday through Sunday on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, drawing artists, entertainers, food and audiences from Northeast Pennsylvania and beyond.

Board member Gina Malsky says even longtime Fiesta fans should come with fresh eyes. “There are so many things that go on and it’s such a busy festival,” she said. It takes at least a few laps around the square to locate all the attractions, she said.

Here is some of what is new or notable.

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Phil Giordano and his band will play jazz at the Fine Arts Fiesta. (Courtesy of Fine Arts Fiesta)

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Hours

On Thursday through Saturday the Fiesta runs from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Sunday, the hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Additional locations

Art will be on display at the Fiesta’s office, 58-60 Public Square, and at the Genetti Best Western Plus Hotel, 77 E. Market St.

The Fiesta office is the setting for a themed exhibit by a dozen artists who are also mothers. It will be open from noon to 6 p.m. each day of the Fiesta. “It’s just beautiful pieces,” Malsky said.

Like all of the displays and entertainment at the Fiesta, admission is free.

Several other downtown spots have concurrent displays, such as Abide Coffee House and Pour Coffee House.

Music

The musical headliner is the Phil Giordano Jazz Orchestra, playing seven decades of jazz on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Doug Smith & The Dixieland Band will also perform on Saturday. The 4:30 p.m. performance will include a tribute to the late Bobby Baird Jr., a well-known Northeast Pennsylvania trumpeter. He died at age 95 in 2025.

The Fiesta is also a prime opportunity for school and community groups to perform and provide a steady musical backdrop each day. The Wyoming Valley West School District has several spots for various instrumental and vocal groups on Thursday and Friday.

Celebrate dance at the Kirby Center

Eight local dance companies will be featured at a free performance at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Public Square on Friday at 5:30 pm.

It expands the Fiesta’s dance performances and gives the dancers a chance to perform at a premier venue and on a stage better suited for dancers, Malsky said.

The companies are: the Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, the David Blight Studio, the Back Mountain Dance Theatre, Joan Harris Dance Studio, the Emerald Isle Step Dancers, the Abundant Praise Dance Ministry, the Medley Movement and the Ballet Center at Wilkes University.

Art

The heart of the Fiesta is the juried art exhibits. The winning works are marked, so viewers can match their own preferences against the judges’ choices. The youth and adult divisions are open to artists within a 100-mile radius.

The Best of Show, Leonard A. and Clementine M. Najaka Memorial Award went to Molly May Simko of White Haven for an acrylic work titled “Turkey Vulture.”

In the student edition, the Best of Show, Eugene and Margaret Pelczar Memorial Award went to Evie Yanaiti of Plains Twp., for an acrylic work called “Mrs. Raven’s Enigma.”

Winners from beyond the Wilkes-Barre area include artists from the Hazleton area, Pittston, White Haven, the Back Mountain, the Mountain Top area, Nanticoke and Bloomsburg.

Some works will be for sale. And more than 40 additional artisans and craftspeople will sell all kinds of items, including jewelry, woodwork, clothing and more.

There will be demonstrations of mixed media painting, African drumming and ceramics.

The Art History Walk is back with a series of photo spots where viewers can interact with famous works of art.

For kids

Malsky highlighted the art tent for children up to age 12. “There’s the opportunity to really express themselves in that tent and it’s a free experience. So we encourage parents to stop by that tent and do something fun in there,” she said. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

It is on the South Main Street side of the Square.

The Fiesta also offers puppet shows, a free face painting for children, storytelling by the Ousterhout Free Library staff and strolling children’s performers.