Arts will once again thrive in Carbondale this weekend.
The seventh annual Arts THRIVE interactive art festival will return to the city Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., bringing more than two dozen artists and vendors to Memorial Park, across the street from City Hall at 1 N. Main St. Unlike most art festivals, the free, family-friendly Arts THRIVE asks artists to have an interactive component where attendees are able to make their own artwork to take home. Women to Women: THRIVE — short for teach, help, reach, invest, value and encourage — organized its first Arts THRIVE in 2018, though the event missed a year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It just lets people experiment a little bit with their creativity, making things their own,” said Roxanne Farber, a THRIVE member and artist who will be selling her artwork this year. “You always get to put your own little spin on it.”
This year, the festival will have 28 artists and vendors, said THRIVE member and artist Cathy Arvonio. Across the street from the park, the Carbondale Public Library, 5 N. Main St., will also be hosting a birdhouse painting event where participants will decorate birdhouses as part of a partnership with Lackawanna County, she said.
Each year, Arts THRIVE brings an eclectic mix of artists and vendors to Carbondale.
For 2025, there will be musicians wandering around the park, with artists including a “nature’s art workshop” using foraged materials from nature to make things like headbands and wristlets, a balloon artist, soap making and ornament making, Arvonio said.
“It adds a new element every year,” she said of the changing artists and vendors.
A muralist will also be painting a mural live during the event, said THRIVE member Mary Lynn Brannon.
Organizers use grant money from the Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department to give artists stipends of up to $150 to offset material costs, Farber said.
As an artist who has previously done interactive glass painting during the festival, Farber noted the increased exposure after Arts THRIVE, with attendees contacting her afterward to commission art pieces.
“It’s definitely a positive aspect,” she said.
Organizers will have at least one food truck, potentially more, and Carbondale restaurants often have Arts THRIVE lunch specials, Arvonio said.
The event aims to promote Carbondale, Brannon said.
“The important thing about this is that it brings people to Carbondale to see what a wonderful place this is to visit and even to live if they decide to move here,” she said. “It’s a great town.”
It’s also an opportunity to showcase local artists, Arvonio said.
“There’s fabulous artists in this Carbondale area,” she said. “Maybe it inspires somebody.”