PITTSTON — A new year marks new things for the Second Friday Art Walk, and there are many new things in story for this monthly event.
The biggest change are the faces behind the scene as the event will now be run by Joleen Lazecki and Mary Kroptavich, after being previously organized by former main street manager Rose Randazzo and former Art on Main owner Maria Livrogne.
“I think, for me, it was because I was already involved in the art walk,” said Kroptavich. “I was a participating artist (selling) wildlife photography.”
The first art walk of the season kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday, May 11 and will invade downtown Main Street.
Lazecki and Kroptavich both said that, while previous events have been scattered up and down Main Street, this one will be more condensed into a closer area.
“After speaking with the artists and musicians, it seemed like everybody kind of wanted to be in the center of it all,” Lazecki said. “So, we kind of shortened the span of it. It’s going to run from Charles Street to Market Street.”
While the art walk is being condensed, it does not mean there will be any less artists and musicians.
The current lineup includes over 15 artists displaying work such as photography, painting, jewelry, woodwork, candles, and soap dishes.
Each art walk will also feature students from a local high school displaying their work. This month will be Wyoming Area, but Lazecki and Kroptavich were tight lipped on what will be shown.
“You’ll have to come and see,” Lazkecki said.
Musicians include Barbara Shop Quartet, Six Guns Loaded, Broken Roads Duo, Rich Janvo, Miss Communication, and E57.
Maps of where to find everybody will be displayed on the art walk’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pittstoncitysecondfridayartwalk.
The heart of the art walk will be in the Lower Tomato Festival Lot where there will be activities for children.
“That’s going to be the Kids Zone, we’re calling it,” said Kroptavich. “The (Pittston City) Arts Council will be hosting a rock garden where the children can come and paint rocks and they’ll be placed in an inspirational children’s rock garden.”
Other activities include balloons, face painting, interactive story time, and Jan Lokuta will help children paint murals.
He will also take registrations for a church tour he’s doing in Pittston on Sunday, May 20.
A major change to the Second Friday Art Walk this year is the addition of two new events — one in August and one in October.
The event would usually skip the month of August for the Tomato Festival, but Kroptavich and Lazecki said they wanted to keep the flow of the event going.
“We got feedback from a lot of the people asking why we didn’t have one every month,” Lazecki said.
“I think, too, in August you get a lot of people coming down for the Tomato Festival, and the same in October for Paint Pittston Pink,” added Kroptavich.
With a plethora of surprises in store for the event under its new leadership, Pittston City Mayor Mike Lombardo said it’s another way to grow the event and improve it — not change it.
“This isn’t about necessarily being better than who did it before — it’s about the evolution,” he said. “Rose, Maria and everybody else involved are still key players in the formula, but just like the Tomato Festival has grown, Trick or Treat Main Street has grown, this will grow.”
