The Albany Arts Fest is becoming an October tradition.

Billed as “a gathering of local artists,” the Fest will celebrate its sixth year on Oct. 17.

The Fest will return to Albany Historical Society in Kempton.

“It’s a very inmate show in a small space with a lot of variety to appeal to a lot of different people,” said Gene Allen, one of the artists who will be showing his work.

“People can see [works] from abstract to realism,” he continued. “The neat part of it is you may come to see a woodworker but then you’ll see a jeweler, so the show serves to expand [each visitor’s] view.”

The Albany Arts Fest started as a collaboration between Ron Imboden and Mark Amey.

“Since Mark and I organized [the gathering], we reached out to people that we knew,” Imboden explained. “With one exception, all of us are from the Kempton area, so we’re all local people.”

As a member of the Albany Historical Society, Amey suggested that the historical society could appropriately accommodate the annual Fest.

“Visitors could also tour the farm museum there with its farm memorabilia,” Imboden explained.

In all, nine artists will be showing their work, with all available for purchase.

Besides Imboden (watercolors), Mark Amey (pottery), and Allen (acrylic painting), the Fest includes Rosie Fritch (jewelry), Luke Voytas (woodwork turning), Kris Amey (textiles), David Fegley (jewelry), Joe Walker (wood carving), and Shawn Brown (folkadelic art).

“Most of us have our own Facebook pages, so people know our work and that works to our benefit,” Imboden said.

“This [event] originally grew out of my desire to do a show on the heels of COVID,” he continued. “Being a member of the Albany Historical Society, Mark suggested we stage our show there.”

That same weekend, the 12th annual Kempton Antique Show will be held at the Kempton Community Center.

“The first two years the show was scheduled for the first Saturday in October,” Imboden explained, but he later moved the date to coordinate the event with the antique show and woodworker event.

“I’m working with a group of artists, and we are coordinating with the Wood Workers Fair at Bailey’s Saw Mill and the antique show at the Kempton Community Center since they are all within five miles of each other,” Imboden said.

Like the Arts Fest, the antique show has become a perennial favorite.

“It’s an excellent show,” Allen said. “It accommodates a lot of people’s different tastes. There are primitives, fine arts, jewelry and furniture.”

“Though the dealers are from all over, many of the same vendors return year after year,” he continued. “It’s like visiting my friends.”

The Wood Workers Fair at Bailey’s Saw Mill rounds out the events.

The Albany Arts Fest runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Albany Township Historical Society, located at 404 Old Philly Pike in Kempton.