Englewood Forest Festival, a summer day of art, dance, music and nature activities under the trees

Start: Saturday, August 9, 2025 10:00AM
End: Saturday, August 9, 2025 4:00PM

The Englewood Forest Festival returns for an enjoyable and educational summer day of art, music, dance, fun, and free, family-friendly environmental activities – all under a canopy of lovely trees in a premiere Northeast Salem park. The 7-acre Englewood Park is a major highlight of the day. Developed by the renown Lord & Schryver design team, Salem’s oldest park is a historic gem full of hundreds of oaks and Douglas fir trees, plus many birds, animals, plants and flowers. Throughout the day, festival-goers can enjoy art, poetry, dance and music and learn a variety of ways to protect birds, trees, streams and other natural habitat in their own yards and neighborhoods. Now in its 7th year, the free festival will have nearly 80 booths this year including many local artists, nonprofits, community resources and authors from Salem and the Willamette Valley. New highlights of this year’s festival include the SamaZama Koto/ Cello Duo and “Penny,” a Kestrel wildlife ambassador from Chintimini Wildlife Center, the Timothy James Band from Salem, as well as the Casa de la Cultura Tianese dance troupe. Early visitors to the festival at 10 am will learn more about kestrels and be able to watch Penny make a short flight between handlers on stage. Favorite performers will return including the Ty Curtis & Taylor Neville blues band, Salem Aerial Dance Company, Paradise of Samoa Polynesian Dance Troupe, ENLACE Cross-Cultural Development music, and the Premier Academy of Performing Arts (PAPA) dancers. An important part of the festival is offering ways for people to engage in free, interactive educational activities. Some include building a bird house, making a piñata, observing bees under a microscope, painting traditional Mexican wood sculptures, and more. The festival values youth mentorship and many of the performances feature young people performing on their own, or with adults. Those include ENLACE, the PAPA Dancers, Paradise of Samoa, Casa de la Cultura Tianese, Ceili of the Valley, Salem Aerial Dance Company and Mariachi music. The festival is excited to welcome returning artists plus many new vendors. Ceramics, painting, jewelry, photography, fiber, glass art, clothing, sculpture, garden art, and recycled items will be on display and for sale. For more details go to www.englewoodforestfestival.org or find Englewood Forest Festival on Facebook.