April is officially here and with a brand new month comes a brand new batch of exciting events in Montgomery County! Check out all the amazing and fun events coming this week right here in Montco!

Special Events

blue and white vehicle on green grass

MID-ATLANTIC INDOOR NATIONALS CAR, TRUCK & BIKE SHOW

April 6 - 7
The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center

We hope you will be joining us, as a vehicle exhibitor, vendor, sponsor or spectator. If you are an automotive enthusiast you will want to clear your schedule for an extended weekend of automotive history, culture and fun at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. We hope to see you there April 6th and 7th. Saturday 9am to 8pm;Sunday 9am to 4pm

 

MONTCO COMIC FEST

April 6
Montgomery County - Norristown Public Library

The Third Annual Montco Comic Fest will be taking place on Saturday, April 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guests will be local comics creators and other artists, along with cosplayers and gamers. There will also be feature panels on comics-related topics, artistic workshops and plenty of fun activities for children.

Gaming

This year’s Gaming Room is once again sponsored by Phoenixville’s Gamer’s Heaven. We have an array of consoles to play for gamers of all ages, from Playstation 4s to the new Nintendo Switch. At noon, we’ll be starting our Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournament! Battle your friends in one-on-one competition for the chance to win some new Amiibos!

Panels & Workshops

Title: Tips On Drawing Comics Characters
Time: 11:00am – 11:50am
Location: Magazine Room
Presented By: Keville Bowen

It’s that time again for MontCo Comic Fest and with that another round of our Comic book contest. Come hone your skills with help from Keville Bowen. His ‘Tips on Drawing Characters’ workshop is focused on various face styles, simple body structure and position poses.

Title: Anime For The Whole Family
Time: 12:00pm – 12:50pm
Location: Children’s Learning Center
Presented By: Nathaniel Hoover

Game designer and anime aficionado Nate Hoover walks old otaku and new fans alike through the world of family-friendly anime!

Title: Getting Started
Time: 1:00pm – 1:50pm
Location: Magazine Room
Presented By: TBA

This panel focuses on how to get your start in a creative industry. Hear from artists, writers, crafters and more! The last half of this panel will be devoted to audience questions.

Title: Art Showdown
Time: 2:00pm – 2:50pm
Location: Magazine Room
Presented By: TBA

The wild improv drawing game returns! Local artists will battle head-to-head in round robin art competition based on random audience suggestions.

NORRISTOWN DAY

April 6
Norristown Chamber of Commerce

Beautification Project 9 - 11am

Little League Opening Day 9am - 12pm

Recreation Center Open House 12 - 2pm

Norristown's Chamber of Commerce Party in the Park 12 - 3pm

Municipal Fleet Showcase 12 - 2pm

Free Admission to the Elmwood Park Zoo

Rain Date: April 7

SWEETHEART DANCE

April 5
Cairnwood Estate

An enchanted evening for a special someone with a great child in their life! Perfect for daughters and sons from ages 5-13. This over-the-moon event will include music, dancing, and kid friendly, yummy treats – plus receive a special keepsake memory at the end of the night! 

VF AppBike Montco App 

Montco Makers

Beer, Wine & Spirits Events

liquor pouring on clear shot glass

ANGEL'S ENVY WHISKEY TASTING

April 4
Iron Abbey Gastro Pub

Join us at an Angel's Envy Whiskey Tasting here at Iron Abbey Gastropub! 3 Whiskeys: Rye, Bourbon, Cask Strength Appetizers are also included in the price, served buffet style. We can't wait to see you there!

 

NATIONAL BURRITO DAY

April 4
El Sarape

Join us for National Burrito Day on Thursday, April 4th and take 50% OFF ALL Burritos. During lunch and dine in only. Take advantage of the 50% OFF coupon

Adventure Montco

Energizing Events

person running between grass fields

The Garden Spot Village 1/2 Marathon and 10K

April 6
Garden Spot Village

The Garden Spot Village 1/2 Marathon and 10K is a race unlike any other. Taking place in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, the Garden Spot Village 1/2 Marathon and 10K offers runners an opportunity to run through the beautiful Amish farmlands of Pennsylvania.

This is a run for everyone whether you are a beginner, experienced, leisure or competitive runner. There is plenty of space available for family, friends and spectators. Don’t miss this exciting time!

To learn more or to register, visit the race websiteOpens a New Window..

GARDEN SPOT VILLAGE KIDS MARATHON

April 5​
Garden Spot Village

Garden Spot Village and ELANCO Public Library have teamed up to promote healthy lifestyles for kids 6 to 12 in Kindergarten through 8th grade. The kids not only benefit from the activity and training but they get to experience the thrill of a marathon start and finish, coming down through the same finisher’s chute that the runners will use the following day with cheering crowds, medals and all. To learn more or register, visit gardenspotvillageOpens a New Window..run

EASTER BUNNY EXPRESS

April 6 - April 20
Colebrookdale Railroad

The best way to make Easter memories that will last a lifetime is to join Peter Cottontail aboard the Colebrookdale Railroad! The Bunny brings gifts for all children and an Easter Egg Hunt right on board the train for all children up to 12 years of age.

Be sure to bring your camera to take your picture with the Easter Bunny!

Patriot Trails

Historic Events

person behind mesh fence

RECKONING WITH VIOLENCE: MASS INCARCERATION, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, AND THE ROAD TO REPAIR

April 2
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site

Danielle Sered says, “We will never end mass incarceration without taking on the question of violence, and we will never end violence without reducing our reliance on prisons.” Join us as she discusses strategies for addressing violence that are survivor-centered, accountability-based, safety-driven, and racially equitable.

Danielle Sered is the Executive Director of Common Justice, which develops and advances solutions to violence that meet the needs of those harmed, promote restorative justice, and do not rely on incarceration. She is the author of the book Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair.

This event is part of Eastern State's ongoing Searchlight Series of events addressing issues in contemporary corrections. The Searchlight Series discussions take place the first Tuesday of every month, free and open to the public. No reservations required.

BLENDING HISTORY AND FICTION: READING JERRY PINKNEY AND TONI MORRISON

April 4
Woodmere Art Museum

Lecturer: Crystal Lucky, PhD, associate dean of baccalaureate studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and associate professor of English, Villanova University

$15 ($10 members)

Fugitive slave narratives and third-person accounts of enslaved men and women’s experiences during the nineteenth century draw an outline around the horrors of American slavery. This lecture will address how contemporary artists like Jerry Pinkney and Toni Morrison fill in the spaces left untouched with vibrant color, linguistic contour, and the richness of sound to offer present-day Americans entrée into a world we can only imagine.

HEX SIGNS: SACRED & CELESTIAL SYMBOLISM IN PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH BARN STARS

March 1 - November 3
Bryn Athyn Historic District
 

Explores themes of sacred and celestial imagery in the traditional arts of the Pennsylvania Dutch, with special emphasis on the decorated barns of Southeastern Pennsylvania. This exhibition, which features actual examples of barn stars, decorated objects, and related images, is guest curated  by Patrick Donmoyer, director of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University. Donmoyer is the author of Hex Signs: Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars (2013). The Heritage Center and Glencairn Museum will collaborate on a full exhibition catalog for the Glencairn exhibition. 

Arts Montco

Special Events

ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN

April 5
Keswick Theatre

One Night of Queen is a stunning live 2 hour concert recreating and celebrating the music of Queen. Performed by Gary Mullen and 'The Works', with fantastic staging, lighting and effects this show will rock you! In 2000, Gary Mullen won the Grand Final of the hit UK TV show 'Stars In Their Eyes' as the legendary Freddie Mercury. With huge public demand following his win, Gary created One Night of Queen -- a fully live, amazingly accurate tribute concert. The show has toured since, repeatedly selling out theatres and concert halls in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Holland, France, and New Zealand. The show has also played the World famous 'BBC Proms in the Park', to a 40,000 strong audience in Hyde Park, London after having another sucessful year around Europe the band are currently about to head off back to America for another 2 month Rockin Tour Book your tickets now to avoid disappointment!.

DAVID UOSIKKINEN'S IN THE POCKET

April 6
Ardmore Music Hall

The ambitious and always musically tasty In The Pocket project, brings together all-star Philly musicians to cover classic Philadelphia tunes. The Hooters' David Uosikkinen revisits songs that were either recorded in Philadelphia or written and performed by Philadelphians. These essential songs feature a rotating line up of Philly's most celebrated musicians. 

WE ARE ALL HOMELESS

March 9 - April 27
Saint Miriam Parish and Friary

Saint Miriam will be the next home for the WE ARE ALL HOMELESS project. The exhibit will feature a cross-section of the works from Willie Baronet on two levels of the parish. We will also tie into this exhibit our Lenten experience for 2019. We will sink more deeply into how we live a life of service and care for the marginalized and the lost and the lonely. We will try to deepen our own will, too, as we seek the homeless, the food insecure, and the forgotten. From the opening of the exhibit on March 9th to its closing celebration on April 27th, we will become homeless.

The WE ARE ALL HOMELESS project began in 1993 due to the awkwardness its founder, Artist, and professor, Willie Baronet, felt when he pulled up to an intersection and encountered a person holding a sign, asking for help. Willie has since purchased more than 1,300 homeless signs over the past 24 years, and he uses this collection to create installations to raise awareness about homelessness. Like many of us, he wrestled with whether or not he was doing good by giving them money or to simply ignore them or avoid their steely gaze. Mostly he admitted the internal struggle with his moral obligation, and how his own choices contributed in conscious or unconscious ways to poverty. Willie struggled with the unfairness of the lives people are born into, the physical, mental, and psychological handicaps. In his struggle, he avoided eye contact with those on the street, unwilling to really see them, and in doing so – like most of us – avoided seeing parts of himself. That changed once he began asking these people if they would sell their signs! Willie's relationship to the homeless has been powerfully and permanently altered and now, so has the world.

Arts Montco

On the Stage

COMEDY CLUB PRESENTS: JAY BLACK

April 5​
Valley Forge Casino Resort

On the stage, Jay has headlined clubs across the nation, from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to the Tropicana in Atlantic City and just about every comedy club in between. He also toured extensively in Europe as the host of the US Army's "I Am Strong" tour. He's met with equal success on the college market, performing at nearly 1,000 schools across the country, winning the "College Performer of the Year" award once and the "College Comedian of the Year" award three times. ?

THE MEDUSA PLAY

April 4 - 6
Ursinus College

The Medusa Play is the first student work produced on the Ursinus mainstage in almost 20 years. A contemporary re-telling of the Medusa myth, the play focuses on a group of young artists living together in Philadelphia. Like the mythical Medusa, the lead character Meddie seems to be a contradiction. A hero? A villain?  How you interpret Meddie depends on how you view the character’s truth.

Written by Angela Antoinette Bey

Directed by Tamanya Garza, guest director

THE FEW

March 22 - April 7
Theatre Horizon

A surprisingly funny story of seething tensions and missed connections, from the author of The Whale.

In the days before the Internet, a small town editor plays matchmaker by publishing a newspaper that runs personal ads, uniting the truck drivers who traverse America’s lonely roads. When her own lost lover resurfaces, long-simmering tensions expose carefully guarded secrets, by turns hilarious, exhilarating, and poignant. Meanwhile Matthew, an eager young writer, compels his jaded mentors to consider whether recommitting to the human race is worth all the trouble.

 

SAME TIME NEXT YEAR

March 19 - April 14 ​
Act II Playhouse, Ltd.

by Bernard Slade

The beloved Broadway romantic comedy. George and Doris - married to other people - meet for an annual tryst for 24 years. Starring Tony Braithwaite and Tracie Higgins.

"Genuinely funny and genuinely romantic" -The New York Post

Arts Guide Spring SummerCrave Winter 2019