What's new, what's familiar at the 52nd annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts

Talking about the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, coming up on its 52nd incarnation Oct. 14-15, can feel like talking about Crimson Tide football.

Start with long and storied programs, drawing from deep wells of tradition, creating sources of hometown pride ― and not insignificant draws for visitors ― and add in the color and spectacle, the sounds, feels, razzle and dazzle of a weekend among like-minded and thrilled-to-be-there fans, and about the main differences are in scale, and that at Kentuck, nobody has to end their day on the wrong side of a scoreboard.

More: What's up, boo? Your guide to Halloween in Tuscaloosa

Coaching changes do occur, but on a less-frequent basis than that of the players. Unlike the University of Alabama, where you can see a complete turnover on the field every season, the Kentuck Festival invites back numbers of long-time artists and demonstrators, some who've been there decades, while leaving open slots ― through its blind selection process ― for exciting new prospects.

The entirety of Kentuck Park becomes a sprawling tailgate, as artists load in massive metallic creatures, symbolic, abstract, and sometimes, for a given value of "function," functional; booths jammed with art quilts, brooms and chairs, dobros and electric cigar boxes, leather-bound journals and inscribed pottery, interior worlds within the booths; wildly vivid or hauntingly shaded two- and three-dimensional constructs, sometimes of found art, blended often with traditional media such as oils, pastels, clay, glass, photography and more.

Little fans run wild-ish in the central hands-on art and craft areas, guided in projects both to engage the senses, and create something tangible for take-home. Indulgences beckon from the food trucks, lemonade and candy and popcorn stands, and carnival-like tents offering arrays of things on sticks, on breads, shells, beds of rice and more.

The Brother Ben Music Stage this year will feature sounds from Mike Cooley, longtime co-singer-songwriter-guitarist of the famed Drive-by Truckers, longtime SteelDrivers member Gary Nichols, with country, R&B, a locally-based ukulele collective, and more.

On the Kathryn Tucker Windham Stage, the spoken-word offerings will feature an array of poetry, creative non-fiction, and other tales, from folks including Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones, and recent Alabama Writers Hall of Fame Inductee Trudier Harris.

Here are the lineups:

Brother Ben Music Stage

SATURDAY

• 9:30-10:30 a.m. : Tuscaloosa Ukulele Club

• 11-Noon: Diablo Sandwich and the Dr. Peppers

• 12:30-1:45 p.m.: Caleb Elliot

• 2:15-3:30: Thad and Company

• 3:45-5: Mike Cooley

SUNDAY

• 10-11 a.m.: Max-Planck Gymnasium Big Band

• 11:30-12:30 p.m.: Pat O’Sullivan

• 1-2:15: Kaydee Mulvehill

• 2:30-4: Gary Nichols

Kathryn Tucker Windham Spoken Word Stage

SATURDAY

• 9:30 a.m.: University of Alabama undergraduate creative writing students

• 11:30: Pure Products Reading Group

• 12:30 p.m.: Charlie "Tin Man" Lucas, stories about Kathryn Tucker Windham

• 1:30: Sandy Barnidge

• 3: Brooke Champagne

SUNDAY

• 10:30 a.m.: UA undergrad students

• Noon: Kathryn Tucker Windham tales

• 1:30 p.m.: Ashley M. Jones, Alabama Poet Laureate

• 2:30: Trudier Harris

For more about the musicians involved, see www.kentuck.org/music. For more on the reader/writers at the KTW Stage, see www.kentuck.org/spoken-word.

More than 270 display and demonstrating artists will be arranged throughout the park. Food and drink trucks will be on hand, and local craft brews will be available for sale.

How to get Kentuck festival tickets

Tickets can be purchased in advance, through www.kentuck.org, or at the front gate, for $15 each day, or $25 for a two-day pass. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Pets are not allowed in the festival, nor are outside food and drink. Parking can be had in the park, or in downtown Northport, where regular shuttles will be running. For more, see www.kentuck.org/the-festival.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What to expect at the 52nd annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts