New mayor, new PVDFest.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley plans to announce later today that the city’s annual arts and music festival will be held in September rather than June, which is when former mayor Jorge Elorza preferred to hold the three-day event.
This year’s PVDFest will be scheduled for Sept. 8 through 10, essentially closing out summer in Providence rather than opening it. The new dates also ensure that thousands of college students will be able to attend the event because it will be held during the school year.
Elorza rebranded the former Providence Sound Session into PVDFest during his time as mayor, pouring resources into the downtown festival to make it a signature event in the city each year. It has attracted nearly 600,000 attendees and 4,600 artists since its debut in 2015 (it was interrupted by the pandemic).
Advertisement
The event will be planned by Joe Wilson Jr., a veteran actor who runs the city’s Office of Art, Culture and Tourism.
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @danmcgowan.