Burlington County residents and visitors are invited to Historic Smithville Park for an evening of fine art, music and theater during the upcoming Arts After Dark festival.
The event will run from 4 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, and will feature an eclectic mix of art, music, film, food and entertainment for a celebration of creativity and self-expression.
This year’s festival will feature the launch of Burlington County Troll Trek, a new public art exhibit inspired by world renown sculptor Thomas Dambo’s Big Rusty troll made mostly from recycled material at the site of Hainesport’s future Creek Turn Park.
To help amplify Dambo’s message and give Big Rusty some new friends, the county enlisted artists from across the region to create 18 additional trolls from recycled and natural materials. They will be placed in outdoor locations throughout the county.
Two of the new trolls will be unveiled in Smithville Park at 6 p.m. A map detailing the exact locations of the other trolls will also be released that evening.
In addition to the kickoff of Troll Trek, this year’s festival will also feature a crankie festival featuring seven distinct crankie shows created by national artists and performers.
Crankies are among the oldest storytelling art forms. They are made from long, illustrated scrolls that are wound onto two spools and then fed into a lighted box with a viewing window. The score is hand-cranked while the story is told or music is played or sung.
Festival goers will also be able to learn about other early forms of cinema and glass art during the final day of the Magic Lantern Exhibit in the Workers House Gallery, which will be open late throughout the festival.
The Smithville Mansion Annex Gallery will also be open with an exhibition of tattoo art, including sketches, designs and other tattoo-inspired artwork.
There will also be a pop-up art gallery, interactive black light art exhibit, an outdoor light and cinema show, typewriter poetry, theater performances, live music, food trucks and more.
Once the sky darkens, Smithville will become a canvas for a fantastic light and cinema show featuring projections that will illuminate Smithville Mansion and its grounds, creating an otherworldly experience, and visitors will also be able to participate in an interactive black light art show inside the Smithville barn.
