Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival: The Lion in Winter
Gamut Classic Theatre,
Strawberry Square
September 14-30
The Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival is closing out the 2001 Summer Season with James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter. A look at the Plantagenet family from Shakespeare’s King John, Winter is a “comedic drama” that tells the tale of “political deceit and family betrayal.”

The Lion in Winter will run through September 30 at the Gamut Classic Theatre, Third Floor, Strawberry Square in downtown Harrisburg. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $15/general admission, $10/students and seniors. Admission for Sunday matinee performances is B.Y.O.P. — ‘bring your own price’ — during which theatre-goers are admitted with any size donation. Special “talk back” sessions where attendees will be able to discuss the performance with cast and crew will be held after the September 21 and September 28 shows.

Strawberry Square is located at Third and Market streets, Harrisburg. For more information, call 238-4111 or visit gamutplays.org.

27th Annual Seven Sweets and Sours Festival
Kitchen Kettle Village, Intercourse
September 20-22
Have fun, be entertained, and share in the bounty of preserved goods being prepared as part of the Seven Sweet and Sours Festival at Kitchen Kettle Village. Held for the 27th straight year, the fall festival celebrates “one of the most intriguing aspects of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine — where the bounty of the garden is preserved as delectable condiments and relishes.” Throughout the weekend, the Village will play host to food tastings, garden creature displays, a winter quilting bee, pumpkin painting, cookie decorating, and scarecrow making, as well as a variety of entertainers, including Banjo Jimmy and his Sidemen ragtime band.

Located in Kitchen Kettle Village is the Jam and Relish Kitchen — home of more than 70 different varieties of jams, relishes, butters, syrups, and preserves — and 34 artisan, furniture, and food shops.

Admission and parking are free. For more information, call 800-732-3538 or visit kitchenkettle.com.

Concert: Cello
Messiah College, Grantham
September 21
A quartet of classically trained cellists, the women of Cello perform “an eclectic repertoire” that ranges from classical jazz and world to new music. Since their start in 1998, the quartet has performed on a number of elite stages throughout Europe and the United States, including the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center as well as at a number of foundations, colleges, and universities, such as Arizona State University, The University of Maryland, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Cello has appeared on the Fox Television Network, National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and have been featured in such magazines as Time, the Strad, and W.

Cello will be at Messiah College’s Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on September 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 and are available by calling 691-6036.

Fiesta of Cultures
Danzante, Harrisburg
September 22
Celebrate in the Fiesta of Cultures by joining Danzante in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Held September 22, the Fiesta will offer performances, art exhibits, crafts, music, face paintings, children’s activities, Latin food, and more.

Harrisburg’s Latino/Spanish Dance and Art/Flamenco Dance Company, Danzante is located at 200 Crescent Street, Harrisburg. The Fiesta of Cultures will take place September 22 from 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Admission is free. All proceeds benefit Danzante’s arts and cultural programs for inner city youth.

For more information, call 232-2615.

Via Colori Italian Street Painting Festival
North Fourth St., between Market and Walnut St., Harrisburg
September 22-23
The Via Colori Italian Street Painting Festival is set to take place Saturday and Sunday, September 22 and 23 on the first block of North Fourth Street, between Market and Walnut Streets.

Harrisburg is the first location in Pennsylvania to begin hosting the annual festival. Since the early 1990s, similar festivals have been held in such cities as Naples and Seaside, Florida. A celebration of creativity during which dozens of large scale, pastel drawings will be created directly on the pavement, Via Colori will literally transform North Fourth Street into a street of colors. Open to artists of all ages and calibers, Via Colori’s painted squares are sponsored by corporations, businesses, professionals and individuals who are interested in supporting and celebrating the act of creation. Via Colori’s featured artist will be Wayne A. Fettro. Originally from Mechanicsburg, Fettro has painted murals in Elizabethtown, Lancaster, York, and Wyoming.

In addition to the art, nearly a dozen live bands and acts will perform on a stage located at Fourth and Market Streets. Vendors will be also be on-hand, selling food and baked goods.

Free to the public, Via Colori will be held Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call 236-8562 or visit community.pennlive.com/cc/viacolori.

Proceeds from the event will benefit outreach programs of the Harrisburg First Church of God. Other local beneficiaries are Kingdom Works, Allison Hill Project, WJTL, Christian Children’s Fund, and Disaster Aid. First Church also supports Bethesda Mission, Ecumenical Food Pantry, HELP and CONTACT. In addition, ministries of education, medicine and preaching will be supported in Haiti, Brazil, India and Bangladesh, as well as specialized ministries to Native Americans in New Mexico and Arizona.

The Taffetas
York Little Theatre, York
September 28-30, October 3-7
Poodle skits, root beer floots, and vintage cars will be just a few of the images guaranteed to take you back to another place and time. Set in 1956, The Taffetas follows a quartet of singing sisters from York set to make their national debut on television’s “Spotlight on Music.” The group’s hometown success has catapulted them to national fame and this production joins them at the “apex of their career … so far.”

With a score complete with familiar classics — like “Lollipop,” “Johnny Angel,” “Puppy Love,” and “Mr. Sandman,” among others — The Taffetas will run September 28-30 and October 3-7. Performance times are 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. on Sunday.

York Little Theatre is located at exit 19A of I-83, just south of Route 462, Market Street.

For more information, call 854-5715 or visit www.ylt.org.