Major Arts Festival To Kick Off In Greenwich Village This Weekend

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — A nine-day massive Greenwich Village arts festival is kicking off in the neighborhood on Saturday. The festival will run through Sept. 26 in an effort to bring foot traffic back to the Lower Manhattan neighborhood.

There are more than 30 scheduled events throughout the community and over 50 performers set to showcase their talent over the nine-day Village Trip Festival.

Restaurants and bars in Greenwich Village will also participate by offering special Village Trip cocktails and dishes on their menus during the festival.

Venues for the different performers include Father Demo Square, Washington Square Park, the intersection of Eighth and MacDougal Streets, and the North Square Lounge at the Washington Square Hotel.

There will be musical performances, food tours, theater crawls, and virtual webinars that are all centered on different Greenwich Village-related topics. Here's a full schedule of all the events from Sept. 18 through the 26th: Program Schedule.

British journalist and author Liz Thomson founded The Village Trip in 2018 after she was shocked to learn that Greenwich Village didn't have an annual arts festival despite its rich history in the subject.

David Amram, William Anderson, Eve Beglarian Jessica Bowers, Ann Burg, and John Chang are among the performers scheduled to participate in the Village Trip Festival. You can find the full slate of performers on Village Trip's website.

"This year, The Village Trip will have special resonance and meaning, as the neighborhood recovers from Covid and looks to the future," said Clifford Pearson, Joint Artistic Director of the festival, in a news release. "As a Village resident, I know we all need the chance to remember what we've been through and celebrate where we are headed."

The Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce is partnering with The Village Trip to organize this year's festival — which will be the third event in its initiative to bring foot traffic back to the neighborhood after the pandemic.