I went to Arts Fest and People’s Choice for the first time. Here are my takeaways

I didn’t know much about State College before I signed an internship offer with the Centre Daily Times, flew across the East Coast and moved into a sublet apartment for the summer.

Most of my research assured me that it wasn’t too different from my own college town of Gainesville, Florida: similar chain restaurants, street names and a semi-reliable clock tower that echos even beyond campus. What excited me most about spending the summer somewhere new though was the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts — or, as I now know to call it, Arts Fest.

The Wikipedia page for State College, Pennsylvania, gives you the Arts Fest basics: it’s five days long, it showcases artists from across the country and more than 100,000 people visit for one supremely busy weekend in July. It reminded me even more of Gainesville, where every Saturday seems to bring another thrift or vintage market to town.

Once festival season rolled around, I learned Arts Fest was just one piece of the puzzle.

In 1993, 26 years after Arts Fest was created, local artists decided to start a “homegrown arts festival” — something that would spotlight solely Pennsylvania creatives, as opposed to Arts Fest’s more geographically diverse lineup. This year, the People’s Choice Festival of Pennsylvania celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Chatter about the merits of each festival often blossomed around the newsroom. Because I’d never been to either, my editor suggested I take advantage of my inexperience and visit both Arts Fest and People’s Choice for the first time.

Visiting both festivals

When I left my apartment Friday afternoon and started walking toward Allen Street, the first thing that struck me was how crowded it was. I bumped shoulders with more people than I’d seen all summer.

For the most part, living downtown has felt like living in a ghost town — I’m surprised every time I share the elevator with someone. In the days leading up to Arts Fest, I watched the space transform: streets blocked off, stages erected. The walk by Schlow Centre Region Library down past Memorial Field became unrecognizable, marked by colorful tents as far as the eye could see.

This reinvention of an area I’ve been living in for almost two months was one of my favorite parts of experiencing Arts Fest. It was the same downtown State College but more alive, and it let me imagine what it might feel like to be here during a football weekend.

Although People’s Choice didn’t require as creative a transformation — there’s no need to weave between restaurants and Penn State buildings at the Grange fairgrounds — I was surprised by how familiar the setup felt. I’d expected Arts Fest to feel more like Gainesville, where markets rarely stray too far from campus, but it was more sophisticated than nostalgic.

People’s Choice, true to its history, read like a love letter to the Keystone State. At the same time, it made me realize there were more similarities between north Florida and central Pennsylvania than I expected: Gators merch swapped for the Nittany Lion, but the same love for nature and hunting.

Asking artists about their work — both as a journalist and a customer — never gets boring, and between the two festivals, my Thursday and Friday were ripe with conversation.

At Arts Fest, I was introduced to hundreds of people who had managed to make a living out of creation. After spending the first half of the week reporting a story about artists who traveled from out state, it was exciting to stop by their booths in person. Now that I’d written about their work, I got to experience it: to run my fingers over textured glass paintings, swing in a rocking chair and play music through a brass horn repurposed as an iPhone speaker.

Chatting with vendors at People’s Choice told a different story. They were people who had made room for their passions outside their full-time jobs. There were far more first-timers, like Bobby Vanek, who shared how he’ll sometimes paint all night after spending all day running a hardware store in State College.

Two sides of the same coin

Before now, I envisioned Arts Fest and People’s Choice as rivals: two competing festivals sharing the same humid weekend in July. Having visited them both, I’m not sure if this was an accurate perspective. If anything, they’re complementary — two sides of the same paint-splattered coin.

Arts Fest resembled a sprawling outdoor museum of fine art. A lot of the booths were meticulously set up, temporary walls allowing you to walk through the space like it was its own mini gallery. Diversity was a strong suit, with different artists representing traditional art styles from various cultures.

Of course, this worldliness was also reflected in the price, with many pieces of art, jewelry or furniture exceeding $1,000. I opted for an afternoon of pure observation and instead spent $12 on a corn dog and fries. It was mostly worth it.

People’s Choice was more of an arts and crafts show, trading professionalism for approachability. It was a casual, interactive affair — more free samples (I had my first freeze-dried Skittle!), more affordable and more live demonstrations of artists welding key rings or whittling wooden ducks. I spent $5 on two specialty tea bags, and I’m looking forward to combating the heat with a glass of iced tea.