Description

The Saturday festival begins with the LYSB 5K Run/Walk and Kids K. Pre-registration is available at LYSB.org or onsite the morning of the race beginning at 6:45am for the 8am run. The 5K winds through the historic Old Lyme Village while a 9am “Kids K” takes place on the Lyme-Old Lyme High School running track. The Lyme-Old Lyme Lions’ Club hosts its Classic Car Show beginning at 9:30am at 100 Lyme Street (home of the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center). The show features antique, exotic, and hot rod vehicles from across the region. Participants can register their classic cars at lymeoldlymelionsclub.org for $20. Attendees can judge cars from 9am-1pm for a $5 fee during this important fundraiser of the Lions Club. Car Show attendees can also enjoy the Lions' Club popular Grill serving burgers, hot dogs, and fries. The “Midsummer Fence Artists” will hold their traditional art sale from 9am-4pm on the lawn of the Old Lyme Inn (85 Lyme Street). Oil painters, pastelists, photographers, and other artists display their works for sale “Parisian style” on fencing. Art demonstrations take place during the Fence Artists Show. The Old Lyme Inn will have grill items available on its patio from 11am to 2pm. Also at the Old Lyme Inn will be this year’s Hands-on/Minds-On Activity Center from 9am to 3pm. Join local cultural organizations on the south lawn of the Inn to enjoy free family-friendly crafts and activities while learning more about the organizations’ offerings. Participating nonprofits include the Niantic Children's Museum, High Hopes Therapeutic Riding, the Lyman Allyn Museum, Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center, Barn for Artistic Youth, the Old Lyme Historical Society, Katherine Hepburn Museum, the Duck River Garden Club, Soroptimist International, the South End Volunteer Ambulance Association, and the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library. Art will also be for sale by members of the Lyme Art Association (90 Lyme Street), an institution that has celebrated more than a century of selling its members’ art. In addition, the Art Association will host several food vendors and local non-profit groups on its front lawn, as well as its popular painting face-cutouts. The Art Association art sale will take place from 9am-4pm and its galleries, featuring the Hudson Valley Art Association’s 90th Annual National Juried Show and New Haven Paint and Clay Club Select Members Exhibit, will be open until 5pm. Dogs with the best Smile, Best Costume, and Best Trick take the prize at the Parading Paws Dog Show on the Florence Griswold Museum grounds (96 Lyme Street) and hosted by Vista Life Innovation. Dogs can register from 10am-10:30am to take part in the entertaining show beginning at 10:45am on the shady lawn. Always a crowd-pleaser, this dog competition will be immediately followed by a parade of its participants. The Museum offers on Saturday free admission from 10am-5pm to its historic boardinghouse and current exhibition Object Lessons in American Art: Selections from the Princeton University Art Museum. In addition, an artwork installation featuring members of Vista Life Innovation can also be viewed on the Museum grounds. Vista is a program offering pathways to independence for young adults with neurological disabilities based in Madison and Westbrook, CT. Several food trucks will also be set up on the Museum grounds and its Museum Shop will hold the annual Super Sale in its Shop. Art continues south on Lyme Street with a trip to studio 80+ Sculpture Grounds. The Midsummer Festival is often a time when art lovers discover the hidden treasure at 80-1 Lyme Street. By walking down the 80-1 driveway and past the buildings, attendees enter the large sculpture installation by resident artist Gil Boro. From 9am to 5pm, attendees can visit Boro’s sculpture garden as well as its Summer Sculpture Showcase highlighting large-scale outdoor sculptural works from artists across the country. The Lyme Academy of Fine Art’s exquisite De Gerenday’s Fine Art Materials & Curiosities shop will be open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday. For those looking for the finest art materials hand selected by the Academy's renowned faculty of professional artists, De Gerenday's is the place to shop. Located at the rear of the Academy campus (nearest the parking lot), De Gerenday's also offers high-quality giftable objects from around the globe. The annual Patricia Spratt for the Home Midsummer Warehouse Sale takes place the festival weekend Friday and Saturday from 10am to 4pm at 60 Lyme Street. The sale offers up to 80 percent off of table linens, pillows, and other home goods. The sale will also include Connecticut designed and made “Love, Lilly” preppy-style fashions and fashion accessories by Ellen Raines Martin. The Midsummer Festival is a production of the Old Lyme Arts District, a partnership of a dozen arts and cultural organizations and businesses along Lyme Street. To learn more about the Festival and partnership go to ExploreOldLyme.com/Midsummer-Festival. Sponsors of the Old Lyme Midsummer Festival include Pasta Vita, Essex Financial Services/Essex Savings Bank, the Herb Chambers Charitable Foundation, LymeLine.com, Paul Burdick Oil Company, Bluewater Millwork & Construction, Old Lyme Marketplace, Benchmark Wealth Management, LLC, Caliber Computing, Zelek Electric, and Connected Systems.