ap0700_FestRelease.doc

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

20% Increase in Applicants Promises New Excitement at Top-Rated Fine Art and Craft Show Labor Day Weekend.

LANCASTER, PA -- Two hundred juried fine art and craftspeople from across the globe will be coming to Lancaster, PA Labor Day weekend for the 29th annual Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival. Of these, well over a third will be making their first appearances at the fine art and craft show. Recognized recently as the fourth best in America by The Harris List, a national rating organization, the Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival will be held rain or shine Friday, August 31 through Monday, September 3, 2007.

Show hours Friday through Sunday are 10 am to 6 pm. Monday’s hours are 10 am through 5 pm.

New to the 2007 festival will be wine and craft beer tastings. Sunday from 2 to 3 pm guests will be invited to sample craft beers from Iron Hill Brewery. Monday from 2 to 3 they may taste Tamanend and other fine Pennsylvania wines. There will be a charge oof $5 per person for these tastings.

Approximately 20,000 guests from across the mid-Atlantic region are expected to attend the four-day festival. The event has become a Labor Day weekend tradition since its founding in 1979 to help underwrite the Long’s Park Summer Entertainment Series. This year’s show has been chosen as the host site for the National Association of Independent Artists’ national directors conference.

Nearly 1,200 of the country’s top artists and craftspeople vied to be one of the 2007 festival’s 200 exhibitors by taking part in the festival’s rigorous jurying process. Applications were received from 45 states, the District of Columbia and 2 foreign countries. From this large pool of candidates, a panel of eight national jurors — all working artists themselves — chose the best of the best.

This year’s exhibitors will bring to Lancaster an array of stunning jewelry, trendsetting apparel and leather, magnificent artwork and photography and exceptionally crafted glass, ceramics and sculpture. Festival guests will find something for almost every taste and pocketbook, ranging from affordable gift-giving to heirloom investments.

Long’s Park provides exhibitors and guests with a most inviting, accessible setting. Located just off the Route 30 bypass on the northwest edge of historic Lancaster City, the Long’s Park venue is a beautiful, 70-acre city park, canopied with stately elms and lined with shaded walkways and a picturesque, 2-acre lake.

The festival’s fine art and crafts will be complemented by four days of soothing music and outdoor bistro dining. Featured in the Susquehanna Style Bistro at Long’s Park will be some of the region’s finest restaurants and caterers with an appetizing selection of salads, pastas, sandwiches, seafood and desserts. Tamanend wines and Iron Hill Brewery craft beers will also be on sale in the Bistro and elsewhere in the show.

The Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival will cater to aspiring young artists, too. Pennsylvania College of Art & Design is cohosting a special area where children can unleash their “inner artist” and create personal works of art.

This year’s festival will again open with a special “Breakfast in the Park” preview benefit Friday, August 31 from 8 to 9:30 am. Breakfast patrons will enjoy a gourmet champagne breakfast, private shopping time before the show opens to the public and purchase delivery services.

Providing oversight and inspiration to the 2007 Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival is Festival managing director, Amy L. Marberger of Millersville. Returning to support Marberger is Festival artistic director, Donna Stephen Reinaker, Lancaster.

The Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival is produced and sponsored annually by the Long’s Park Amphitheater Foundation to help underwrite its 13-week Long’s Park Summer Entertainment Series. This year the free concert series featured such entertainers as Grammy winners Riders in the Sky, Living Blues superstar Shemekia Copeland and “Riverdance” performance star Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul.

Discounted tickets to the Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival may be purchased online through August 28, 2007, at www.longspark.org. One day passes are $8 apiece, multi-day passes $10 each. Children 12 and under are free. Tickets are also available onsite at the festival for $10 (one day) and $12 (multi-day).

Patron tickets to “Breakfast in the Park,” which includes weekend-long admission to the festival, are $100 per patron.

Free parking is provided within the park, including a special lot for those with physical challenges. Outside the festival area Long’s Park offers children a variety of playgrounds and a petting zoo.

Pets are prohibited inside the fenced show area.

Long’s Park is located off Route 30 at the Harrisburg Pike/Park City Center exit in Lancaster, PA.