Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts
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The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (officially abbreviated as C.P.F.A) is held each year in State College, Pennsylvania and on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. Locals commonly refer to the event as Arts Fest. Arts Fest was first held in 1967, and celebrated its 40th year when it was last held July 12, 2006 through July 16, 2006.
The festival gained a measure of notoriety in 1998 when a riot occurred in the "Beaver Canyon" section of downtown State College, reportedly causing over $150,000 in property damage and resulting in several arrests. The riot is thought to have resulted from a crowd of intoxicated festival-goers, most of whom were not affiliated with the borough of State College nor Penn State, becoming agitated at the extremely long line outside Acme Pizza, on the corner of Beaver Avenue and Locust Lane. When riotous destruction occurred shortly afterward, various policemen from outside the borough were called in to aid in quelling the disturbance. Two years later, in 2000, another "mini-riot" took place which convinced local police and borough supervisors to increase police presence during the festival.
