The Lower Highlands Historic Downtown Neighborhood Association held its fifth annual "Arts Around the Block" event along Purchase Street on September 19, 2010. Over 30 local artists and craftspeople set up booths and exhibits along two blocks of Purchase Street from Franklin to Cherry Streets on a beautiful late summer day. Musical performances included contemporary and classic rock music by Olypsys and classical flute music under the Elms by Laura Conrad of the Fipple Fluters. Dance performances by the Youth Musical Theatre Corp, the Goddess Coyle Belly Dance Troupe, the Loralee's Dance Studio and the Pirouette Dance Academy were held on the lawn of the Congregational Church. The event was entirely free and included lots of hands-on events for children, including sidewalk chalk drawing and face painting. To see pictures of last year's event, click here.  For more information about the event or the Neighborhood Association, contact Jim Bartley or Steve Camara at 508-678-1463.
 

(Top row, left) Jocelyne Couto takes the lead in a performance of Rising Momentum by the Youth Musical Theatre Corp. (Top row, center) Ken Hague of the Church of the Holy Spirit mans the grill for lunch provided to the performers and artists. (Top row, right) Aliza-beth, Eric, and Lydia-lee Cruz make prints using apple slices with help from thier mother Erica-beth at the Children's Museum table. (Middle row, left) Jaidon, David and Robert Leroux and their mother, Jennifer, look over the cookie decorating table provided by the Diabetes Association. (Middle row, center) Eleven-year-old Jaymmy Cruz works on a chalk sketch on Purchase Street. (Middle row, right) Jo-Anne Sbrega wears an unusual gourd while Ray Gordon, both of the Children's Museum, looks on. (Bottom row, left) Eight-year-old Xander Schenck, whose father owns Animal Instincts pet store, keeps track of a 90-pound tortoise while Sue Blackburn and Beth-ann Gregory watch from behind. (Bottom row, center) Wendy Garf-Lipp of United Neighbors of Fall River paints a vampire image. (Bottom row, right) Lorrie Alves of Animal Instincts holds Coco the rabbit.