Gallery on Gazebo to host Sunday on the Square fundraiser

Reporter

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Beauty, emotion and color will be celebrated at this artistic street-fair like gathering.

Gallery on Gazebo will present its Sunday on the Square fundraising event from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday in Central Park in downtown Johnstown.

“This is the fifth year for Sunday on the Square, and it has the idea of creating community in the park,” said Cassidy Polacek, event chairwoman. “Johnstown is on the precipice of a cultural revolution and everyone is feeling it, so the gallery wanted a way to get people downtown in the middle of all of it to feel like they are a part of it.”

This year’s event will focus on the life and travels of Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.

The park will be divided into quadrants – The Hague, London, Paris and Arles – with each location representing an artistic time period in van Gogh’s life.

The Hague in the Netherlands is where van Gogh attended art school and spent much of his adolescence.

“They have a Kings Day’s Festival that is all tied around the color orange, so we’re going to have a funfair with orange cotton candy, Belgian waffles and chances to win little prizes,” Polacek said.

In London, van Gogh spent three years as an art dealer and fell in love with the architecture.

“We’ve put London in the corner by Franklin Street United Methodist Church to celebrate the architecture existing in the space,” Polacek said. “People will be able to get fish and chips, and there’s going to be flower market boxes that will look like a farmer’s market in London.”

Paris will be located by Gallery on Gazebo and will feature a European wine bar, as well as Parisian cuisine that will include pecan brie chicken and watercress soup.

“A lot of people really love this Parisian mindset, and we’re trying to make people feel like they are in van Gogh’s Paris,” Polacek said.

Inside the gallery, a wide range of art from local artists will be available for sale in its version of the Salon des Refuses.

Van Gogh’s period in Arles, France, is regarded as his most prolific.

“Here we will pay homage to his work,” Polacek said. “We’ll have few prints of some of the work he did there.”

Food will be provided by Craft Modern Kitchen, Sunnehanna Country Club, Our Sons’ Family Restaurant and Gallina’s Pizza & Restaurant.

There will be entertainment by Jazz in Your Face with interludes from Jessica Schulte on accordion.

A silent auction will feature artwork from each of the quadrants.

A cash bar will be available in the park.

In addition, attendees will receive a corsage of van Gogh flowers as well as a van Gogh tote bag.

“People are really responding to this and I think it’s going to be an incredible day,” Polacek said. “We hope people will get inspired and explore the arts downtown, get involved with the arts downtown and find new artists and voices through the Johnstown area scene.”

Proceeds will benefit the renovation project at Gallery on Gazebo.

Event sponsors are AmeriServ Financial, Wessel & Co., McAneny Bros., 1st Summit Bank and the Cambria County Association for the Blind and Handicapped.

Tickets are $50 per person and reservations are requested by Monday.

They can be purchased online at www.galleryongazebo.org/sunday-on-the-square.

Kelly Urban is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. She can be reached at (814) 532-5073. Follow her on Twitter @KellyUrban25.

What: Sunday on the Square.

Where: Central Park, downtown Johnstown.

When: 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $50.

Information: 814-539-4345 or www.galleryongazebo.org/sunday-on-the-square.

One corner of downtown Johnstown's Central Park on Sunday took on the look of a King's Day festival in The Hague to reflect Vincent van Gogh's childhood in the Netherlands.

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