Events corresponding with the two-day 2016 Newtown Arts Festival, September 17-18 at Fairfield Hills, have begun. Screenings of The African Queen kicked off this year's series on September 1, and myriad events will continue through October 2.ice cream social at Reed Intermediate School on Saturday, September 10, from 1 to 3 pm; and the second annual REACH Newtown Car Show on Sunday, September 11, 9 am to 3 pm at Fairfield Hills.newtownartsfestival.com to make one.newtownartsfestival.com. Tickets for the BBQ event must be purchased in advance; they will not be sold at the door.Rear Window, September 29 at Edmond Town Hall; the opening night of The Mousetrap, the next production of Town Players of Newtown's current season, September 30 at The Little Theatre; and "Music in The Streets," a special series of onsite performances by local musicians, September 30 and October 1.newtownartsfestival.com for full details.

Coming up during the week of September 9-18 will be an

In addition, Newtown Cultural Arts Commission will present "The 3 Wordsmiths" on Wednesday, September 14, at 7 pm, at Newtown Meeting House, 31 Main Street.

Newtown humorist, blogger, and activist Kate Mayer; Danbury schoolteacher and columnist Robert Zupperoli; and fiction writer and columnist Wendy Wipprecht will each share some of their works. A Q&A with the wordsmiths will follow, as will a book signing session.

Admission is free, but reservations are required due to limited space; visit

A fun and festive Rooster Bash & BBQ Dinner Dance will take place Friday, September 16, from 7 to 11 pm, under a large tent at Fairfield Hills.

The event will feature catered dinner by Odeen's BBQ (cash bar) and live music by The Shoo Fly Blues Band.

Tickets are $65 per person, and are available at

The fifth annual Newtown Arts Festival signature event, a two-day outdoor festival at Fairfield Hills, will be offered Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18.

Running from 10 am until 6 pm each day, the festival will offer more than 75 artisans and food booths, two full days of live music, arts activities, dance performances, poetry, puppetry, graffiti art, a wine and beer garden, and much more.

Admission to the weekend event is $5, and $3 for ages 6-12, both payable at the gate. Children ages 5 and under will be admitted free of charge.

Now in its fifth year, the arts celebration will also include free dance performances and workshops, crafts workshop, band performances, as well as poetry performances and workshops and a visit from Connecticut Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilkin.

From classical Indian music to a real washboard bands to barbershop a capella singing, there will be music all day, each day. The Survivors Swing Band (who will also be offering a free afternoon performance on Sunday, September 11, at Dickinson Park) will open the weekend event will music from the swing era. The band will have the stage on Saturday from 10:30 am until noon.

They will be followed by Sub-Sub Urban, a neo-soul/hip-hop fusion group that with influences from Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson to The Roots, from 12:30 to 2 pm.

The Srividhya Shankar School of Classical South Indian Carnatic Music will bring songs from the Indian subcontinent from 2:30 to 4 pm, followed by the award-winning Silver Steel Band, based in Bridgeport, with Caribbean favorites as well as Soca and Calypso-styled music from Trinidad and Tobago to end the day's music from 4:30 to 6 pm.

On Sunday, music begins with the Newtown High School Nighthawks from 10 to 10:30 am, followed by the Newtown High School Chorus and Singers at 10:30.

The Mad Hatter Chorus, a men's a capella group that sings in the barbershop style, will be performing from 11:15 to noon. Five-time Small Chorus Champions (NorthEast District, The Barbershop Harmony Society), the group takes its repertoire from traditional and more modern music.

Washboard Slim & The Blue Lights will bring their washboard, jugs, guitars and banjos for a 12:30-2 pm performance, followed by Berkshire Jazz Orchestra, offering its Big Band sound from 2:30 to 4 pm.

The day's music will wrap with Last Lixx, a high-energy rock and roll, funk and dance cover band that plays popular music from the last five decades, who will take the stage at 4:30 for a 90-minute set.

Arts Festival events will also include a presentation of 10-minute plays, September 17; the third annual Newtown Arts Festival Improv Night, September 24; "Random Acts of Chamber Music," a performance by New England New Music Ensemble, September 23 at Newtown Meeting House; and a September 24 lantern parade.

The final week of 2016 Newtown Arts Festival events will include Newtown Dance Collaborative, a performance of juried student choreography by dancers from local dance studios, September 25 at Edmond Town Hall; two screenings of

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