A Holiday Break will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Monday at Johnstown Children’s Museum at Heritage Discovery Center, 201 Sixth Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

Crafts and games will have a holiday theme and will be offered on an alternating basis during the drop-in event.

Activities will be geared toward children ages 4 and older, usually elementary age.

Admission is free to JAHA members or with museum admission.

Information: 539-1889.

Light-up paddle

The second annual Light Up-Paddle by members of the Bens-creek Canoe Club will be held at 5 p.m. today to raise money for the Salvation Army.

 Canoes and kayaks will be decked out for the holidays as members parade along the Stonycreek River from the Hickory Street Bridge to Cambria City.

The group expects to pass Point Stadium around 6:30 p.m., where volunteers will take donations in the overlook area.

Immigrant holiday

“Immigrant Christmas Traditions” will be presented by Johnstown Area Heritage Association at 1 and 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Wagner-Ritter House & Garden, 418 Broad St. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

Traditional family Christmas activities will be offered at Heritage Discovery Center before the tours begin.

Swedish, Carpatho-Russian and German Protestant traditions from the late 19th and   early 20th centuries will be spotlighted.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children for JAHA members and $12 for adults and $7 for children for nonmembers.

Reservations: 539-1889.

Holiday crafts

The 42nd Holly Bazaar will be held through Monday at Community Arts Center of Cambria County, 1217 Menoher Blvd., Westmont.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Saturday and Monday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The arts center will be closed Christmas Day and Dec. 29-31 and Jan. 1 and 2.

Admission is free.

Information: 255-6515.

All aboard

The Christmastown Railroad will be on display through Jan. 1 in the community room of Arbutus Park Manor, 207 Ottawa St. in Richland Township.

The model train exhibit was put together by enthusiasts Ron Reinbold and Win Garland.

The railroad can be viewed from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday; 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday; and 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Dec. 29 and Jan. 1.

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Information: 262-2156.

Shakespeare TV

Band of Brothers Shakespeare Company’s production of “Julius Caesar” will air at 7 tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday on Pennsylvania Cable Network.

The well-known tragedy has been given a contemporary twist by the nonprofit Shakespearean troupe.

This year’s performance is the seventh Shakespearean play to reach a statewide audience since 2006, and is provided courtesy of Atlantic Broadband of Johnstown.

Information: www.bandofbrothersshakespeare.org.

Performance venue

Music is on the menu at the Venue of Merging Arts, 305 Chestnut St. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

West Hills All Stars will perform from 7 to 11 tonight.

A Christmas party with George Byich will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, with Byich playing acoustic guitar interpretations of Christmas favorites.

General admission is $6, which includes eggnog, hot cocoa and dessert items.

Information: 410-2245.

Book bargains

Friends of the Cambria County Library’s Inclined To Read Bookstore will feature holiday, religious, vintage and coffee-table books at the library at 248 Main St., downtown Johnstown.

Coffee-table books are $2, hardbacks are $1 and paperbacks are 25 cents each or five for $1.  

Bookstore hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Information: 536-5131.

Bright lights

Holiday Lights on the Lake will be open through Jan. 6 at Lakemont Park, 700 Park Ave., Altoona.

Hours are 6 to 10 nightly.

The cost is $10 for standard passenger vehicle; $20 for commercial van; $25 for school bus; $75 for motorcoach; and  $34.95 for an unlimited visits pass for standard vehicles only.

Information: (800) 434-8006 or www.lakemontparkfun.com.

 

Overly’s Country Christmas will be open through Jan. 1 at Westmoreland Fairgrounds, Greensburg.

Hours are 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 5:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

The cost is $10 per vehicle Mondays through Thursdays and $12 per vehicle Fridays through Sundays; $15 per limousine, extended passenger van or minibus.

Information: (724) 423-1400 or www.overlys.com.





An outdoor Winter Light Garden exhibit will be on display from 5 to 10 nightly through Jan. 6 at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh.

Phipps will close at 5 p.m. Dec. 24 and reopen at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 26.

Entry to the light garden is included in the price of conservatory admission, which is $12 for adults, $11 for seniors and students and $9 for children ages 2-18.

Conservatory members and children younger than age 2 will be admitted free.   

Other upcoming festivities at Phipps include Santa visits, Saturday and Sunday; candlelight evenings, through Jan. 6; Brunch in Bloom, Sundays through Jan. 6; Saturdays with the Sugar Plum Fairy, Saturday; Family Fun Days, Wednesday through Dec. 30; and New Year’s Eve family celebration, Dec. 31.

Information: phipps.conservatory.org.

‘Faces and Places’

“Faces and Places” by Butler County artist William Perry is on display through Dec. 31 at Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center, 411 Third Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

The Johnstown native’s watercolors show the diversity and emotion of faces as well as scenes painted in Italy.

Information: 536-5399.

American art

“Red, White and Blue in Black and White: The American Scene in Prints, Drawings and Photographs” is on display through May 4 in the Margery Wolf-Kuhn Gallery at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto on the campus of St. Francis University.

The exhibition includes approximately 35 works from the museum’s permanent collection.

Works range in date from 1890-1991, with the majority being American Scene subjects produced during the heyday of Regionalist art in the 1920s and 1930s.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: 472-3920 or www.sama-art.org.

Artistic sale

Bedford County Arts Council will host a show and sale by Kevin Kutz through Dec. 30 at Bedford County Center for the Arts at the Anderson House, 137 E. Pitt St., Bedford.

The exhibit includes landscapes and portraits.

Admission is free.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Information: 623-1538 or email gallery@artsinbedfordpa.org.

Regional art

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts’ 17th annual regional juried exhibition is on display through Feb. 10 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley, One Boucher Lane and Route 711 South in Ligonier.

The exhibition includes 73 works from 73 individual artists from the 19 southwestern counties of Pennsylvania, featuring oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, wood, clay and photography.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. weekends.

Information: (724) 238-6015 or www.sama-art.org.

Juried exhibit

The 80th annual Allied Artists Juried Exhibition is on display through Jan. 5 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Johnstown, Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center on the campus of Pitt-Johnstown, Richland Township.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Information: 269-7234 or www.johnstownart.com.

State of the art

“Biennial 2012” is on display through Jan. 26 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto on the campus of St. Francis University.

The exhibition will feature 131 works from nearly 100 Pennsylvania artists.

Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: 472-3920 or www.sama-art.org.

‘Artists in Our Midst’

The annual juried exhibition “Artists in Our Midst” is on display through Jan. 19 in the Shirley and Fred A. Pechter Gallery at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Altoona, 1210 11th Ave.

The exhibition will have 77 works created by 27 local and regional artists who are members of Art in Common.

The variety of media will include photography, watercolor, wood, acrylic, oil, clay, fiber arts and mixed media.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: 946-4464 or www.sama-art.org.

Lifelong art

“Colleen Browning: Drawings” is on display through Jan. 12 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Altoona, 1210 11th Ave.



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