Vandergrift Artfest moving most events to digital format

Vandergrift’s Artfest was supposed to be a healing experience. The theme, “Take Your Broken Heart, Turn it to Art,” was focused on wellness and mental health.

“When we chose that theme, we really just had no idea how our lives would be fractured so badly over the last few months,” said Lisa Dormire, chairman of the Artfest committee for the Vandergrift Improvement Program.

The event, scheduled for Saturday, was to include vendors publicizing wellness and mental health services, as well as music, food and a gallery for local artists to share their work. In light of the coronavirus pandemic and public health guidelines, the VIP has moved much of the festivities to a digital format.

The VIP will launch an official Artfest website, vandergriftartfest.com, at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The site will feature art, vendors and links to musical performances. Some of the food trucks and vendors that had planned to participate will still visit Vandergrift between 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday.

“There is great temptation to say that we’re not going to try to do anything this year, but that didn’t feel quite right to the VIP,” Dormire said.

Vandergrift Council approved the use of in-person food trucks for the Artfest’s otherwise virtual event at its last meeting July 6. So far, confirmed vendors include Michelle’s Mobile Meals, McFeely’s Shaved Ice and Ash & Kris Mediterranean.

“I kind of struggle with events that have moved forward as if the world is normal,” Dormire said. “It was great to find the support of council saying, ‘we affirm you doing things differently’ and to honor that goal to keep people safe.”

Message remains the same

Dormire said the message for Artfest remains the same despite the largely digital format. She is hoping the web event, which she compared to the virtual version of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, will still offer some comfort and opportunity to organizations that have lost funding or are struggling during the pandemic.

“Art is something that does bring us all together and a place where we can heal,” she said.

Bill Domiano, a Vandergrift native who now lives in Leechburg, was responsible for creating the Artfest’s new web platform. Domiano said the VIP approached him to build the site in early July, after he’d started working on another project for them — a directory spotlighting Vandergrift businesses, at shopvandergrift.com. The purpose of both projects, he said, is to help Vandergrift become the hub of activity it once was.

Domiano also acts as an administrator for a community Facebook page for the town. He said he was feeling overwhelmed with the negativity and arguments occurring on the page. He said he hopes the two new websites “shine a light on the good that there still is in the town.”

“The goal, at least as I see it, is to try and get Vandergrift back to being the hub that it used to be in the area,” Domiano said. When he was growing up, he said, “It was the place that people came to in the valley. It was ‘the’ place.”

Local artists who would have participated in the festival’s gallery can now upload their work to the website. Musicians can share links to their performances. While the Artfest is normally a one-day event, Dormire said the VIP will continue to monitor visitation to the site and she hopes it can be a lasting resource for the community.