Lincoln To Come Alive With Festivals

Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, Tuesday, encouraged residents to support the Lincoln Calling music festival, the Lincoln Arts Festival, the Lincoln PoPS festival of contemporary art and the Streets Alive! outdoor movement festival this week and weekend.

Lincoln Calling

The 16th annual Lincoln Calling begins the evening of Wednesday September 18th and ends with a closing party Sunday, September 22nd.

From Thursday through Saturday, more than 90 local, regional and national bands will perform in eight downtown venues. The festival also includes art, a night market, workshops and panel discussions on music, fashion, entrepreneurship and recycling. More information is available at lincolncalling.com.

Coordinator Spencer Munson said “there will be forty different vendors on the streets selling their wares, and a total of ninety-four bands playing.” Munson says those 94 bands will be performing nearly non-stop, beginning at 4 p.m or 5p.m. in the afternoon, in five bars around 14th and O, and on two outdoor stages.

Lincoln Arts Festival

The 19th annual Lincoln Arts Festival presented by the Lincoln Arts Council runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday September 21st, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday September 22nd.

The festival will be held for the first time in downtown Lincoln. More than 100 local, regional and national artists will be featured in Tower Square, on “P” Street from 13th Street to Centennial Mall, and on 13th and 14th streets between “P” and “Q.” More information is available at artscene.org/festival.

Troy Gagner of the Lincoln Arts Council says this year’s downtown location has drawn 110 artists. “Just over a quarter of our artists are from the Lincoln area, and 60% are from outside of Nebraska.”

Lincoln PoPS, Play on P Street

This is Lincoln’s first placemaking festival of contemporary art. The exhibition, “Global Frequencies,” features 24 artists from around the world on “P” Street from 17th to Canopy streets. The festival website is lincolnpops.com.

Streets Alive!

The 9th annual Streets Alive! festival is from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday September 22 in the South Salt Creek and Cooper Park neighborhoods.

Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln presents the festival to promote health and fitness. Two miles of City streets are closed to motorized vehicles and filed with about 100 exhibitors, fitness and sports demonstrations, food vendors, music, dance, art, and children’s activities. More information is available at healthylincoln.org/streetsalive.