Dauphin County Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick, III and M&T Bank present free wine tasting with 15 of Pennsylvania’s best wineries, 2 stages, 5 national acts, 12 bands, all located in the beautiful Fort Hunter Park along the Susquehanna River. The festival will also feature a host of craft and food vendors.

Sample some of Central Pennsylvania’s top wines while enjoying the entertainment.  Participating wineries will include 12 wineries from the Hershey Harrisburg Wine Country, Sand Castle Winery, Star Winery, Moon Dancer Winery, and Naylor Wine Cellars.  Free wine glasses will be offered to the first 1,500 people.

On Saturday, the Blues Society of Central PA will feature national recording artist, Jimmy Thackery and The Drivers featuring JP Soars, along with Wanda Johnson and Shrimp City Slim, Andy Poxon and local blues act Fatback. Members of the Blues Society including Ann Kerstetter & the Cronies, Don Judy and Ben Brandt & Co. will also perform.

Sunday will feature The Urban Guerilla Orchestra with special guest Angela Johnson. Local bands such as Soul Solution, Impact Band, and Erin Cruise and The Cruise Control will perform as well. Gary Waters St. and his funky quartet will round out Sunday’s entertainment.

Bring a lawn chair, blanket and a picnic basket.  All events are rain or shine.

One ticket price will gain admission for both days. Advance ticket sales are $20, and admission is $25 at the gate. Children age 12 and under are free of charge.  Tickets may be purchased at Mr. Mike’s Records, the Dauphin County Parks and Recreation office at Fort Hunter Park, and online at www.dauphincounty.org/parks-recreation.

Thank you to the many generous sponsors and community partners for making this summer series possible: M&T Bank, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, Highmark Blue Shield, PNC Bank, Comcast, The Hershey Company, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, Sam’s Club, Capital Blue Cross, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Partners in Arts, Jump Street, Pennsylvania Festivals, 92.7 WKZF, 98.9 WQLV, abc27, WINK, WXPN, WITF, Hershey Harrisburg Regional Chamber, Lamar Advertising, Showcase Now!, Urban Connection, Women-CONNECT, Hilton Harrisburg, Crowne Plaza, Days Inn Harrisburg, Staybridge Suites, Hershey Harrisburg Regional Tourism Bureau, Blues Society of Central Pennsylvania, Halifax Township Supervisors, Demn Inc.,  Friends of Jazz, Susquehanna Folk Society and the Dauphin County Cultural Diversity Task Force Committee.

THIS WEEK: NATE MYERS & THE ACES

Join us every Thursday evening this summer to enjoy free, live music featuring local and regional musicians! Check out the Farmers Market from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm and then head on over to the Cocoa Beanery patio & lawn  for music starting at 6:00 pm. The Cocoa Beanery will be open until 8:00 pm for food and drinks.

Emmy-Award winning comedienne Vicki Lawrence is one of the most beloved television personalities of her generation.  She’ll bring her laughs and “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show” to Hershey Theatre on Wednesday, August 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for this show are $35, $45 and $65 (includes meet and greet). Processing fees apply and there is an eight-ticket limit. Tickets are available at Hershey Theatre Box Office, they can be charged by phone at 717-534-3405 or online at http://www.hersheytheatre.com/ or www.TicketMaster.com.

In the seventh season, and hundreds of hilarious sketches later, at the ripe, old age of 24, Vicki created her most endearing character to date, Thelma Harper, or “Mama” as she is better known to her fans.  After the Burnett Show, Vicki went on to star in “Mama’s Family,” which consistently topped the ratings for its entire six-year run of original shows.

No stranger to television, Vicki and her Burnett-crony Tim Conway were coupled as parents on CBS-TV’s “Yes Dear,” where their popularity garnered that sitcom its highest ratings. Vicki perfected her hosting skills on her own daytime talk show, appropriately called “Vicki!,” from 1992 to 1994. She received critical acclaim when she was the only talk show host since Oprah to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy in her freshman year.  Most recently she had recurring role on the popular “Hannah Montana,” as Hannah’s Grandma Stewart.

The unprecedented ratings for the “Carol Burnett Showstopper Special,” which delighted more than 50 million viewers, convinced Ms. Lawrence that the time is right to take Mama out of the closet, dust off her sensible shoes and hit the road with her new touring production, Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show.

Ms. Lawrence will take the stage first. “My new show will not be a retrospective,” she explains. “The show is a mixture of stand-up comedy, music and my observations about real life.” The multi-talented entertainer is mostly known for her acting and comedic talents, but she also earned a gold record for the 1973 hit, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”

“I think people will get a kick out of the things Mama has an opinion about. We’re creating new material with a more modern and cutting edge. Where Mama is concerned, expect the unexpected. There’s really nothing she can’t do,” she says. “I hope people will be pleasantly surprised by a side of Vicki they may never have seen…I know they will be looking forward to Mama, and for her part, that crazy old gal will be up to the challenge.”

Hersheypark Concert Deal: Hersheypark offers a special discounted admission price of just $37.95 to concert-goers when using a Park ticket the day before, day of, or day after a concert. Concert-goers can present their concert ticket at the Hersheypark Front Gate on one of the three days to receive the discount, or they can buy their Park ticket at the box office when they purchase concert tickets.
The wristband policy will be in effect for this concert. Fans are permitted on the Hershey Theatre property beginning at 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 2. Two hours prior to the on-sale, fans will be directed in front of Hershey Theatre Box Office, where they will be issued a numbered wristband. Wristbands are available for one hour, and at the conclusion of that hour, a selected fan will randomly choose a wristband that will determine the line order. For example: If 1,000 wristbands are issued during that hour and the number 500 is selected, the person wearing wristband 500 will be the first person in line. Numbers 501 to 1,000 will proceed in line behind, followed by numbers 1 through 499. Once the line is in place, fans arriving after the wristbands were issued will be escorted to the end of the numbered line.

The Festival will also explore a full range of American art forms: Broadway-style “improv” theater, farm-to-table cuisine, traditional and contemporary brass, America’s largest gathering of historical artists, Americana music, and the roots of America’s Negro spirituals, along with much more.

Additionally, on June 16, a White House dinner will be presented by the Gettysburg Festival and hosted by the Eisenhower Foundation. Special guest Susan Eisenhower will share her memories of the White House during her grandfather’s administration, then Walter Scheib, White House Chef for the Clinton and Bush administrations, will share his experiences in the President’s house. All the while, guests will enjoy an extraordinary dinner and fine wines. More information can be found at www.gettysburgfestival.org

[NEW] ARCTIC SuN Gallerie, 154 N. Prince St.
Featuring colorful abstract paintings by Finnish artist Karusoma along with work by other Nordic artists. 

[NEW] J. Scott Wolf Studio & Gallery, 113 N. Water St.
Grand Opening: Visit J. Scott Wolf’s new studio and gallery space and view his oil paintings of Lancaster County filled with light, color and drama.  Meet the artist.

Kalargyros & Herr Gallery, 112 W. Orange St.
Showcasing hand-blown and hand-sculpted art glass pieces by Despina Kalargyros, oil paintings by Carol Herr and various works by members of the Lancaster County Art Association (LCAA), a professional 2-D and 3-D artists group. The Kalargyros & Herr Gallery is the new downtown location for LCAA.  Meet the artists.

Lancaster Museum of Art,* 135 N. Lime St.
Cameo Series: Highlighting some of Lancaster’s premier artistic talents including Gail Gray, E.M. Saniga, K.K. DePaul and Frank Errigo.

[KIDS] Lancaster Public Library,* 125 N. Duke St.
Childhood Story: Iraqi artist Sadradeen Ameen paints magical primitive representations of creatures bathed in brilliant ceremonial light that signal a return to original calmness.  Meet the artist. Children may create their own paintings with watercolors or crayon-resist technique.

[NEW] MAD-SCULPTOR Gallery, 24 W. Orange St.
Introducing Mark Dennis’s art dolls and other figurative art offerings, including realistic wildlife pieces and whimsical fantasy works.

Parrot Gallery,* 328 W. Orange St.
Contemporary Craft: Displaying works in a variety of craft media, including clay, fiber and sculptural furniture, by two emerging artists — Kate Landis and Rachel M. H. Lehman. Meet the artists. 6-9 pm.

Pennsylvania College of Art & Design,* 204 N. Prince Street.
Telescope: Views of Alumni Life in Art.  Celebrating PCA&D’s 30th year by providing a peek into the creative, entrepreneurial and successful lives of over a dozen PCA&D alumni. The exhibition features work in painting, graphic design, installation, children’s book illustration, animation, graphic novels and more.  Meet the artists.

Red Raven Art Co., 138 N. Prince St.
Featuring a new collection of paintings based on fairy tales by Dick Whitson titled In a Far Out Kingdom and a grouping of low-relief carved ceramics by David Stabley titled Fantasy and Dream Landscapes.

Special thanks to our First Friday Sponsors…

• Presenting Sponsor: Franklin & Marshall College, a residential liberal arts college located in historic Lancaster, Pa. www.fandm.edu
• Annual sponsors for 2011/2012: Auntie Anne’s, Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, UGI, Lancaster Arts Hotel, Select Security and CH&E.

LancasterARTS, a non-profit organization, is the City of Lancaster’s hub for the arts cultivating an environment where the arts can flourish. We enhance the arts presence in the city for the benefit of artists, arts organizations, residents and businesses.

* Wheelchair accessible venue

In recognition of the Gardens’ 75th anniversary, “Watering Can Wonders: An Art Exhibit by Milton Hershey School Students” debuts on June 9. This exhibit features 500 hand-painted watering cans on display along “Watering Can Way,” located next to The Children’s Garden. Keeping with the theme “anything that can be found in nature” students at Milton Hershey School in grades four through 12 hand-painted the watering cans for this exhibit.

Hershey Gardens’ 11th themed garden – the M.S. Hershey Tribute Garden – will be completed this month. As a tribute to 75 years of horticultural legacy, this new garden features colorful plants and a unique seating area with a personal quote by Mr. Hershey: “The more beautiful you can make the place look, the better life the people will have.” Donor contributions have enabled the Gardens to preserve the M.S. Hershey Rose, which was named after Mr. Hershey in 1940. In 2013, 75 of these historic rose bushes will be featured in this garden.

Set among the blooming roses and seasonal displays, the Gardens hosts a variety of events that guests can enjoy this June:

“A Day of Wines & Roses” (Saturday, June 9)
Guests can take a stroll among more than 5,000 rose bushes and a variety of seasonal blooms while enjoying an assortment of Pennsylvania wines during Hershey Gardens’ ninth annual “A Day of Wines & Roses” event on Saturday, June 9 from 4 to 8 p.m. In addition to sampling wine, the event features a cooking-with-wine demonstration, musical entertainment by “Vinyl Groov” and free food samples from area eateries. Tickets cost $40 per person up to June 3 or $45 from June 4 to the event day. Each ticket-holder receives a complimentary tasting glass. Attendees must be age 21 or older and the event will be held rain-or-shine. The Gardens will close to the public at 3 p.m. on June 9. Tickets are available at http://www.hersheygardens.org/ or by calling 717-508-5970.

“A Whimsical Day of Fairies & Flowers” (Saturday, June 16)
Children can enjoy an afternoon that inspires imagination and enjoyment of nature during “A Whimsical Day of Fairies & Flowers” on Saturday, June 16 from 1 to 4 p.m. Participants receive a booklet of hints to discover eight “fairy doors” hidden throughout the Gardens. Each door awaits guests with information about the fairy that lives within that section of the Gardens. Children will have the opportunity to meet Hershey Gardens’ own Rose Fairy and make a craft to take home.  

Additional activities include storybook readings; an animal encounter with a small owl from ZooAmerica North American Wildlife Park; a wand-making station; and a “Create Your Own Fairy Garden” station. The event is held rain-or-shine, and children are encouraged to come dressed in their favorite fairy costume. Tickets cost $8 per child, in addition to regular admission. Registration is required. Tickets are available at www.HersheyGardens.org or by calling 717-508-5970.

Father’s Day (Sunday, June 17)
Hershey Gardens offers free general admission to dads on Sunday, June 17. Guests will see a rainbow of colorful annuals in the Seasonal Display Gardens. The Butterfly House is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features more than 300 North American butterflies.

“75th Anniversary Day of Celebration” (Saturday, June 23)

Visitors can enjoy the summer blooms and learn about the Gardens’ through a 75th anniversary historical highlights guide. Kids will have an opportunity to explore the Gardens’ 23 acres using a special “find-and-seek” handout. A day-long discounted admission price is in effect ($7.50 for adults and seniors, 75 cents for juniors). While supplies last, visitors will receive a complimentary Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar as they exit the Gardens.

The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum is proud to host the Bus and Motorcoach Spring Fling on June 2nd, 2012.  The event will allow families and auto enthusiasts alike to view the entire fleet of vehicles that are part of the Museum of Bus Transportation’s Collection.  Represented will be buses used for intercity travel, transit, school, as well as coach conversions.

The event will take place both inside of the AACA Museum as well as around its campus and the storage collection facility of the Museum of Bus Transportation.  Inside the Museum will be approximately 20 tables of artifacts from the bus and transportation industry.  Wolf Bus Lines will provide a shuttle bus on the hour between the AACA Museum and The Museum of Bus Transportation storage Annex for a once a year opportunity allowing participants to view the entire fleet of buses in the collection.  A special food court will be open IN the museum.  The Fling will be open from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.  Museum of Bus Transportation members will be admitted for free and Regular Museum Admission will be reduced to $5 (half the regular admission) for all visitors to enjoy this special day.

A one-of-a-kind bus is also schedule to be a part of the festivities.  The Spartan bus company built around 55 buses from 1946 to 1949 in Michigan.  We believe that only one of these buses survived and it will appear at our Spring Fling driving all the way from Ohio under its own power.

Special room rates are available for overnight stays by calling the Marriott Springhill Suites (adjoining Museum property).   Call 717-583-2222 and be sure to mention the Bus Spring Fling event when making a reservation.
About the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum:
The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum, a member of the Smithsonian Institute Affiliations Program, displays beautifully restored automobiles, buses and motorcycles in unique life-like scenes representing the 1900′s – 1970′s in a cross-country journey from New York to San Francisco.   The AACA Museum, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, is one of the nation’s newest and largest automotive museums.  Special exhibits change several times a year and focus on a variety of eras and types of vehicles.  The AACA Museum is located just off Route 39, one mile west of Hersheypark Drive in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Regular admission $10, seniors age 61 and older $9, juniors age 4-12 $7, children age 3 and under are FREE.  The Museum is open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and select evening hours during the summer months.   For further information, please call 717-566-7100 or visit http://www.aacamuseum.org/.

South Slavic Music & Dance

Saturday, June 2, 2012
Workshops 1 pm and 3 pm
Dance Party 7:30 pm

The NYC-based ensemble Cherven Tractor brings us a listenable, danceable mix of new and authentic traditional music from Bulgaria, Macedonia, and southern Serbia. Michael Ginsburg leads dance workshops followed by a Balkan Dance Party.

Balkan Dance Workshops
Advanced 1 pm ~ Basic 3 pm

at Christ the Saviour
Orthodox Church
5501 Locust Lane
Harrisburg, PA 17109

Tickets for each Workshop:

$16 General Admission
$12 SFMS Members
$10 Students (ages 3 to 22)

Admission is at the door.
Info call Bart: 717-234-3844

The Friday June 1 First Friday event in Mechanicsburg includes a showing of several rare automobiles in front of the neo-classical Brath and Hughes Fine Art LLC gallery, the former Mechanicsburg Bank Building. Included in the display is a stunning 1935 Bentley 31⁄2 Litre by Hooper from the nearby Rolls Royce Museum. Also on display is a very rare, newly- restored British microcar; a 1958 Berkeley Roadster owned by Dillsburg car enthusiast Jay Young. These and other collector cars will be on display in front of the Brath & Hughes Fine Art LLC Gallery at 41 West Main Street, Mechanicsburg from 5:00 to 9:00 PM on Friday June 1.

Inside the Brath & Hughes Gallery, a wine & cheese reception at 6:00 PM opens a special First Friday exhibit entitled “The Automobile as Art” featuring classic and vintage car photography from renowned Philadelphia photographer Michael Furman, as well as photographs by local photographer Stuart Leask of Sturazzi Photography. Paintings by popular automobile artist Dan Reed of Hamburg and selections from the extensive collection at the AACA Library & Research Center in Hershey, one of The Elegance at Hershey beneficiaries, are also displayed.

Brath and Hughes represent more than 50 local and regional artists. Watercolorist Debra Tritt-Kreiger is featured in “the bank vault” with seashore- themed art. Craig Smith is featured with a collection of
mixed media fine art. Meet the artists during the event. Live music will be performed by Jeff Greenawalt playing Victorian era instruments inside the Gallery, with Jack Poole performing outside on the electric violin.

Admission to the Brath and Hughes LLC Gallery exhibit is free, and the public is invited to enter door prize drawings each hour from 5-9 PM, including the grand prize of a “Family 4-Pack” of tickets to The Elegance at Hershey events.

The Elegance weekend June 8-10 at The Hotel Hershey® includes a vintage hill climb dubbed “The Grand Ascent” on Friday and Saturday, paying homage to the historic Hershey Hill Climb. “The Elegance” on Sunday is a showing of more than 60 of the world’s rarest collector automobiles arrayed through the formal gardens at The Hotel Hershey®. The events are open to the public and raise money for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), the AACA Museum and the AACA Library & Research Center.More information on the Elegance at Hershey events, including advance ticketing, is available at www.theeleganceathershey.com.

About the Artists

Rick Prol is a 1980s East Village icon, whose work features cartoonish mayhem, death and suicide in dilapidated and decaying settings. He dabbles in a variety of media, including installations, paintings, sculpture and drawings. Much of the inspiration for Prol’s work stems from general childhood trauma. Cartoon expressionism was the language he wanted to use to convey his organic, personal experiences about life. He pulls from the urban realities of city life: brutality, authoritarian relationships, decay and destruction of the world around him, and, more recently, the occupy Wall Street movement.

Paul Kostabi is an artist, musician, music producer and audio engineer. Kostabi was a founding member of the bands Youth Gone Mad, White Zombie, and Psychotica. Paul Kostabi paintings are present in Permanent Collections of Paterson Museum, Guggenheim Museum, New England Museum of Art, Millennium Museum, Whitney Museum of Art, Video, Paper, Tiger Sessions, and the Museion Museum.

Hucklebuckle Boys, Zack Rudy and Garrick Dorsett, are a two-person art collective focusing on the exploratory nature of collaboration and the inner flow experience. They strive to bring real passion and unique talent to the world of art while holding to the idea that improvisation and spontaneity are the heartbeat of the underground do-it-yourself culture. Both artists have varied backgrounds that include graffiti, traditional painting, photography and drawing. They have shown their work together in Rochester, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, and several venues in the Harrisburg area. A large installation resides at the Midtown Arts Center.

Joseph Arthur is an artist, musician, and poet. In touch with every nuance of the creative world, Joseph Arthur’s artwork has received much attention from both artistic and musician communities. His works have been featured in MOMAR at La Galerie Chappe in Paris, France, Varga Gallery, We Gallery, and the Bootleg Theatre Gallery, to name a few.

Mark May is a special education teacher who has found a creative outlet through the creation of robots. The robots are created using found and recycled materials which are acquired from flea markets, antique shops, junk yards, and everyday items found on the street. He has shown his work in many venues, such as The Outsider Art Fair and The Others in New York City, and Outsider Art in the Hamptons. He has been featured in Raw Visions magazine and The Folk Art Messenger.

Jeremiah Johnson is a Pennsylvania native. His piece, Idol Hands, is one of a kind. It was created using charcoal, pastel, embossed nickels and dimes on paper. His work is part of several public and private collections including The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Lock Haven University, Susquehanna Health, University of Chicago, Syracuse University, and Temple University.

Alex Ulrich is a photographer residing in Baltimore, Maryland. His work is akin to mid-20th Century aesthetic, pop culture, and the darker side of human nature.

Danielle Charette is a contemporary expressionist. Her work is a highly symbolic form of modern story telling. Her Charette original oil paintings and art have been shown and hang in many galleries throughout the US, and continue to sell both nationally and internationally. Notably, her series “2752 It’s Always the Same” and “Broke in Brooklyn” have been accepted for inclusion by The National September 11th Memorial Museum.

Casey Gleghorn is a Pennsylvania native. He is an outsider artist who uses expressionism and life-drawing studies to express his life experiences.

Liz Parrish is a Pennsylvania native who draws inspiration from her surroundings, the people she cares about, ill-tempered animals, and abandoned places. She utilizes acrylics and pen and ink on wood. Her works are whimsically grotesque and feature distorted, yet almost adorable creatures of her own creation.

Curt Miller is best known for his figurative and expressionistic oil pastels. His subject matter comes directly from his mind and leans towards the enigmatic, the thought provoking, and situations that are out of context.

Rachel Udell is a Pennsylvania native. She is drawn to using soft, comforting, highly textured materials because of their capacity for suggesting forms that feel alive. Her work has been featured at the Nicholas Berg Gallery, The Painted Bride, Midwives Collective and Gallery, and the 3^rd Street Gallery.

John Carruthers is an art teacher at various schools. He works in many different media including painting, pastels, etchings and woodcuts.

Lawrence Charles Miller is an expressionist painter. His works have been featured in Albright College’s Freedman Gallery, Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, Chelsea Art Museum, Exit Art and the Cachifritos Gallery.

Janelle Whisenaut’s works are a reflection of stream of conscious thought, where she creates a combination of both real and invented biologically-inspired forms. Some are solely playful, while others become what they will in a process she describe as artistically empirical.

About Trash Art Gallery 

Trash Art Gallery is run by husband and wife team Richard Reilly and Danielle Charette. Reilly is a former NYC native with 20 years of experience working with the prestigious Adelson Gallery, and is also a professional rock musician and founder of the seminal first wave NYC punk rock band, The Victims, amongst others. Charette is a Harrisburg native who resided in NYC for most of her life prior to returning to the area. She is an emerging contemporary expressionist artist who actively exhibits nationwide with quite a large cult following

Trash Art Gallery exhibits a variety of contemporary art (photography, paintings, mixed media, sculpture, installations and drawings). The gallery represents the talents of many artists locally residing and non-native, emerging and established. Based in Mechanicsburg, PA, Trash Art Gallery is located at 17-19 West Main Street, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Gallery hours are Wed-Sat 11-8pm and by appointment].

For more information, please call (717) 458-8245, or visit their website at www.metropoliscollective.com. Also visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MetropolisCollective

Email the gallery at info@metropoliscollective.com