With a month of performances, events and parades planned, the fourth annual Newtown Arts Festival, sponsored by Newtown Cultural Arts Commission, will begin on Monday, September 1, with the opening night of an exhibit of art by the late Fred Otnes in The Gallery at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Terry Sagedy has returned to serve as chair of the festival, which has grown from a two-day event at Fairfield Hills into the month-long celebration of all things arts it has become.

“We’ve partnered with many local and regional groups to bring a robust and diverse set of offerings to the residents of Newtown and western Connecticut this September,” Mr Sagedy said. “Our goal is to kick off a season of the arts and community events each September to demonstrate the depth of talent and commitment to community that exists in Newtown and the region.”

The exhibition of works by the late Fred Otnes will remain on view until September 30.

A prominent illustrator, painter and collage artist, Mr Otnes enfolded abstraction into his art before most commercial illustrators did. The Society of Illustrators inducted him into their Hall of Fame in September 2011.

In Mr Otnes’s obituary, Daniel E. Slotnik of The New York Times noted that the artist transferred “a photographic image to a different surface — overlays and printmaking in combining his own draftsmanship with printed material, fabric, photographs and other elements to achieve sometimes surreal pastiches.”

Arts festival events will continue on Friday, September 4, with the opening night performance of Bus Stop. Town Players of Newtown will offer a production of William Inge’s comedy, weekends through September 26, at The Little Theatre, 18 Orchard Hill Road.

Tickets are $22 for Friday and Saturday performances for adults (curtain is 8 pm), while Sunday matinee tickets are $18; tickets for ages 10 and under are $10. Call 203-270-9144 or visit newtownplayers.org for reservations, directions to the theater, and additional information.

The Live at the Edmond Town Hall music series will present its second Newtown Arts Festival concert, this year featuring Spirit Family Reunion with Griff Anthony, on Saturday, September 5, at 7 pm.

The New York-based band delivers raw, high-energy honest music. Spirit Family Reunion is self-produced and self-released two full-length albums (no separation in 2012 and hands together in 2015) as well as multiple songbooks and other collections of recordings

Live at ETH Promoter Hayden Bates is thrilled, he said, “to present a band of this caliber to our long-running music series.” Proceeds from the concerts, which have been ongoing since June 2011, have helped cover some of the recent renovations and upgrades to the historic building at 45 Main Street.

Tickets are $25 and available at edmondtownhall.org.

The inaugural Nerd Night in Newtown event, “Can’t Stop the Serenity,” will be the following afternoon and evening. Also being presented at Edmond Town Hall, the September 6 program will run from 5:30 to 10:30 pm.

It will include a screening of the 2005 film Serenity and the three-part “Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” Vendors will be participating, and Sean Faust will be performing live music.

There will also include a CosPlay contest. Winners will be announced at the close of the evening, and will be invited to join Newtown Cultural Arts Commission members on their Labor Day Parade float the following morning.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 the day of the show, and are available at nerdnightinnewtowncsts.brownpapertickets.com. Proceeds will benefit Equality Now and The Mary Hawley Society. (Click here for a full preview of the event.)

Building on the success of the 2014 Newtown Arts Festival Improv Night, the 2015 festival is featuring two nights of improv. Enjoy the laughs at Proud Mary’s at the Inn at Newtown, 19 Main Street, on Wednesdays, September 9 and 23, at 7 pm.

Each evening will feature improv games between the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts’ Debacles troupe and Ridgefield Theater Barn’s Roll in the Hay troupe.

Admission is free but reservations are requested, as seating is limited; visit newtownartsfestival.com/events for reservations.

On Saturday, September 12, Ben’s Lighthouse will host an Ice Cream Social at NYA Sports & Fitness Center, 4 Primrose Street. From 1 to 3 that afternoon, guests can learn about volunteer opportunities in the greater Newtown area through several local organizations participating.

Booths will have activities for youth, information about volunteer opportunities, and sign-ups for individuals to get connected with local volunteers.

The Newtown Arts Festival booth will include lantern making in anticipation of the inaugural Lantern Parade to be held on Saturday, September 19, at 6:30 pm, on the trail at Fairfield Hills.

On Sunday, September 13, Newtown REACH will present its inaugural Car Show. The event will run from 9 am to 3 pm at Fairfield Hills, and will feature classic cars from the 1920s through today, including antiques, hotrods, customs, muscle cars and exotic sports cars. Entertainment includes a DJ all day and live music.

The Port 5 Naval Veterans will provide food all day. In addition, there will be over a dozen vendors and organizations showcasing their products. NCAC will also have a booth where children can make paper lanterns for the Arts Festival Lantern Parade.

A flag ceremony at noon will honor all veterans.

Spectator admission is by donation, and show cars $10. Over 50 trophies will be awarded including Best in Show.

On Wednesday, September 16, Newtown Arts Festival will present its second annual evening of literary entertainment with “The Four Wordsmiths,” featuring the self performed works of comedian and writer Fran Capo, essayist and author Barry Dougherty, award-winning author and poet Charles Rafferty, and teen poet and comic Astrid Sundberg.

The event will begin at 7 pm in The Great Room (social hall) at Newtown Congregational Church, 14 West Street.. A Q&A with the Wordsmiths will follow along with a reception and the authors will be selling and signing their books.

Admission is free but reservations are required. For more information and reservations, visit newtownartsfestival/events.

The Fourth Annual Newtown Arts Festival Weekend will open with its signature outdoor event, The Rooster Ball Dinner & Dance, on Friday, September 18, from 7-11 pm.

The event will features the third appearance of Eugene Dobbs’s Nu Cullers Band along with catering by Galluci’s of Danbury. Dress is fun, festive with flair/tuxes or kilts. The ball will be within the Arts Festival Entertainment Tent, on the lawn with dance floor.

Tickets are $75 per person (cash bar; beer and wine only), and must be purchased in advance; tickets will not be sold at the door. Visit newtownartsfestival.com/events to purchase.

The outdoor festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20, will again include over 75 artisans and food booths, a full day of live music, arts activities, dance performances by the world-renown Pilobilus, fiber arts demonstrations, and much more.

Admission is $5 per person at the gate, free for ages age12. The festival will run from 10 am until 6 pm each day.

As mentioned above, the festival will also host the inaugural Newtown Lantern Parade, stepping off at 6:30 pm Saturday and featuring lanterns and self-made costumes along the new stretch of walking trail at Fairfield Hills. The parade will commence at the softball fields on Mile Hill South and proceed along the new trail to the arts festival grounds, where a centerpiece lantern will be lighted to cap off the day’s activities.

Lanterns will be constructed at Ben’s Lighthouse Ice Cream Social and the REACH Car Show as well during the arts festival earlier that day.

The Second Annual Newtown Arts Festival “10 x 10 Play Festival” will be presented Saturday evening under the Entertainment Tent at Fairfield Hills, beginning at 8 pm. The evening will feature ten, ten minute-long plays and will feature actors from all over western Connecticut.

Admission is free, but reservations are required. Again, visit the festival’s Events page for additional information and reservations.

The inaugural Newtown Film Festival, another new Newtown Arts Festival event, will be presented Friday through Sunday, September 18-20, at Edmond Town Hall.

Featuring the films of young students as well as seasoned filmmakers, the three-day festival will offer shorts, documentaries, animation and features (see related story).

Organizers announced on August 12 that all screenings this year will be free of charge.

For additional information, visit newtownfilmfest.com.

Newtown Friends of Music will host a performance by the Grammy-winning Ying Quartet, with guest pianist Eleanor Freer, on Sunday, September 27, at 3 pm, at Edmond Town Hall.

The first concert of the NFoM 2015-15 season, the program for September 27 is expected to include works of Schubert, Childs and Schumann.

Tickets are $25, with those ages 5-18 admitted free with a ticket-holding adult. Season tickets and additional information are available at newtownfriendsofmusic.org or by calling 203-426-6470.

In a new collaboration with Garner Correctional Institution, a reading of the play Menace by Marquise will take place in the lower meeting room of Town Hall South, 3 Main Street, on Wednesday, September 30, beginning at 7 pm.

Admission is free, but reservations are requested at NewtownArtsFestival.com/events. Beth Young of Newtown will direct the reading.

The full schedule of events will be distributed within The Newtown Bee and The Bee Extra in the issue dated Friday, September 4.

This press release has been updated to reflect the correct date of the Live at ETH: Spirit Family Reunion show.

It has also been corrected to reflect the correct start time for the September 19 10 x 10 Play Festival.