Do you or someone you know want to be an exhibiting artist in the 2026 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts' Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition? If so, now is the time to apply!

This will be our 60th Arts Festival! Over the years, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts has been among the top-ranked juried art fairs in the country, the highlight of the State College summer, one of the biggest non-football alumni weekends for Penn Staters, the summer’s economic anchor for downtown State College businesses, and the place to be for art, music, and fun the week after Independence Day.

For many of the 125,000+ alumni and visitors each year, the Arts Festival is an enduring tradition, experienced with friends and family, and not to be missed.  

As part of the annual Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition’s jury process, artists from across the United States and around the globe will submit digital images of their work to be juried by January 23.

In February, a panel of jurists reviews the images using the Zapplication remote jury process and the artists receiving the highest scores are accepted into the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition.

To encourage and support the visual arts on a regional basis, the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition sets aside booth spaces for artists whose primary residence is in the following Central Pennsylvania counties: Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Mifflin and Union. Through the Central Pennsylvania Division of the Sidewalk Sale, many artists have been introduced to exhibiting at juried outdoor shows. All exhibitors in the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition are subject to the same rules, pay the same fees, and are eligible for the same awards.

The 2026 Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition hours are: Thursday, July 9 through Saturday, July 11, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, July 12, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Our jurors visit each exhibitor during the Festival as part of the jury process to choose the winners of $20,000 in prize money.