Kids Can Create at NoVa Fine Arts Festival

Are your kids into creating art instead of just looking at it?

That's why the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival is fun for the whole family.

The 22nd annual art festival returns to Reston Town Center this weekend. It will feature more than 200 artists displaying and selling their works. But there is a lot more to see and do. Here is what else is happening:

Flying in the sky -  Arachne Aerial Arts and In-Flight Theater return to the festival with Aloft! - elevated performances that will transform the Town Center Pavilion into an animated flying sculpture garden, organizers say.

Both groups will perform original works incorporating bungee, rope & harness, and invented apparatus set to the recorded sounds by DJ Spooky, Alvin Hill Jr., and others.  

Art Around the World -  Reston Town Square Park will be transformed into a Family Art Park that will include the ever-popular Children’s Art Tent, a new Teen Art Tent, a Public Art project and a “Chill-Out” tent.  

Also new this year, face painting will be available during limited hours.

Children can create art influenced by cultures from around the world an fill their Art Passport.  

Click here to see a schedule of children art activities.

What else you need to know:

* Admission to the Festival is free, however for a voluntary donation of $10 to Greater Reston Arts Center at the event's ArtCarts, visitors will receive a $10 gift certificate to dine at participating Reston Town Center restaurants.

Donations benefit year round educational and outreach programs produced by GRACE throughout the Northern Virginia area.

* GRACE will kick off the weekend festivities with an Opening Night Party on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.

The party in the Reston Town Center Pavilion raises money for GRACE’s educational programs.  

The party will be emceed by ABC 7 Good Morning Washington News Anchor, Scott Thuman and will include live music by DC’s Blues Americana Rock showman Ted Garber, performances by Arachne Aerial Arts & In-Flight Theater, silent auction, signature cocktails, and local prominent business leaders and elected officials.

Tickets: $100. Visit www.restonarts.org for online purchasing.