User:JKizzieHumanities/Pawtucket Arts Festival

Pawtucket Arts Festival is an annual arts festival in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is one of the longest-running continuous cultural festivals in the country.

Founded in 1998 through the efforts of Kristine Kilmartin, former Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, and then-Mayor of Pawtucket, James Doyle (Mayor), the Pawtucket Arts Festival was based upon already existing arts festivals in Rhode Island: Scituate Art Festival and the Convergence International Art Festival in Providence, Rhode Island. The festival was originally a satellite of the latter, and was called "Convergence Pawtucket '99". There were a few thousand attendees at the first festival.

Events that are part of the festival include the annual Rhode Island Chinese Dragon boat Races & Taiwan Day Festival, the Slater Park Fall Festival,

Artists who have performed at the Pawtucket Arts Festival include the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Big Nazo, Bob Dylan, Counting Crows, Collective Soul, 3 Doors Down.