Evan Halfen

As the 60th Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts gets underway, downtown State College businesses are ready for one of their busiest weeks of the year. Stores and restaurants are stocking extra inventory, scheduling additional staff, extending hours and finding new ways to draw thousands of visitors through their doors during the five-day festival.

As thousands of visitors head to downtown State College for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts this weekend and to enjoy festival week, Schlow Centre Region Library will once again serve as both a refuge from the crowds and heat, as well as a destination of its own. The library’s annual BookFest PA returns Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., bringing more than 30 authors to the library’s parking lot and underground garage for a day of book sales, author conversations and signings.

The 60th Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts began Wednesday with a celebration dedicated to its youngest artists, performers and visitors, as hundreds of families gathered in downtown State College. Held a day before the festival’s nationally recognized Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition opens, the event featured the Children’s & Youth Sidewalk Sale, where 175 artists ages 8 to 18 from seven central Pennsylvania counties displayed and sold their original artwork along South Allen Street.