The Fifth Annual Newtown Arts Festival outdoor festival had many people browsing tents, sampling food, listening to music, and meeting local artisans Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, at Fairfield Hills.Additional photos from the Newtown Arts Festival signature weekend event are available here.Newtown Arts Festival events continue through October 1, including a performance by New England New Music Ensemble on September 23, the Second Annual Newtown Lantern Festival on September 24, Newtown Dance Collective on September 25, and two screenings of Rear Window on September 28. Additional information about the festival is available at the event's website, newtownartsfestival.com.

Events and performances were scheduled for the Newtown Arts Festival from September 1 to October 1, and ahead of the outdoor festival over the weekend. A Rooster Bash & BBQ Dinner Dance was held the evening of Friday, September 16, on the festival grounds at Fairfield Hills, with music by the Shoo Fly Blues Band.

As the Survivors Swing Band played in the music tent during the event's opening hours Saturday morning, Newtown Poet Laureate Lisa Schwartz kicked off the weekend's lineup of events for the Poetry Salon, just one of the many tents at this year's festival.

Ms Schwartz began by reading her poem, "Homage to Art," which she wrote in honor of last year's Newtown Arts Festival. Starting her reading session with the poem, she said, would create a tradition. For this year's new poem, Ms Schwartz said she kept returning to the idea of writing about politics.

"What's the best way to write about politics? Very carefully. I decided I would be magnanimous and would trash everybody equally," Ms Schwartz said to introduce her new poem, "One Long Sad Brief Session."

At tents nearby festival attendees were browsing goods and participating in prepared activities. One tent offered pumpkin painting with pumpkins donated by Mason's Farm Market. At another tent Chris Scheafer of Steve DeMasco's Shaolin Studios challenged passersby to break a board for a free lesson. Ben Brown, 13, took him up on the offer and broke a board on his first try.

On the northwestern side of the festival field, a space graffiti mural was being created. Marco Frascone of Danbury and Dan Gaughan of New Haven began working on the artwork early in the morning on Saturday, and by the afternoon it appeared filled in.

Large-scale puppets entertained people as they entered the field. Robin McCahill of Intuit 2 Arts had a large black bird that she placed on the arms of willing passersby. Others offered different puppetry demonstrations.

At one tent, retired Newtown Middle School technology education teacher Don Ramsey had 1,200 handmade ties on display. The ties were created by NMS eighth graders over the years, and Mr Ramsey said he had taken photos of each tie to catalog them. School district educator Marc Michaud assisted Mr Ramsey for the day.

Sales of the ties helped raise money for Ability Beyond, and both Mr Ramsey and Mr Michaud were hopeful former students would find their ties and take a new picture with Mr Ramsey. The ties, Mr Ramsey said, captured the heart and soul of the middle school over the ten years of the program, as each student views the world in their own way.

At C.H. Booth Library's tent, guests were invited to make their own magnets with the library's logo. Reading was also celebrated, as visitors were asked to read a book or to share the name of their favorite book.