In 1967, people coming to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts could find anything ranging from baskets of kittens to tin can sculptures being sold along College Avenue.

Needless to say, the Arts Festival has come a long way in 40 years.

The Arts Festival was a "come all" event when it first began, so anyone could go down to the wall on the south end of the Old Main lawn and sell their art.

"It wasn't juried, people could bring their art downtown and hang it on a fence," Rick Bryant, Arts Festival director, said.

Lurene Frantz, Arts Festival director from 1978-1987, said the open nature of the artists' market made it so popular that the campus became over-packed with artists selling their work.

"Ultimately, it just became too unruly, and there had to be some sort of selection process for safety and control," Frantz said.

Festival organizers instituted a jury procedure to decide which artists would be featured at the festival.

"It became a juried show, so you couldn't bring the kittens after 1971," Bryant said.

Wally Lloyd, one of the founders of the Arts Festival, said the idea to start the festival originated as a way to attract people to the community.

"We had some discussion about having some kind of event to bring people into town other than the usual graduation, football games and so on," Lloyd said.

Several ideas were tossed around, he said.

"I first thought of a music festival," Lloyd said. "But then we thought, why limit it to music? Why not include all the arts?"

Of course, musical events have always been a part of the festival.

"The arts festival is, for musicians, like dying and going to heaven," Jon Rounds, of the band Cartoon, said.

Cartoon has been an Arts Festival regular since the 1980s. The group played its first reunion show at the Arts Festival in 1984 and has been coming back ever since.

Over the years, festival organizers have reached out to find artists from across the country and the world to come play at the festival.

"The music has become even more eclectic," Rounds said.

David Young, of the band Red Rose Cotillion, has also noticed the festival's shift in focus.

"It's certainly become more of a national event," Young said. "At the same time it doesn't have as much a local flavor."

Red Rose Cotillion played at the Arts Festival throughout the 1980s with its last show taking place in 1987.

This year, Red Rose Cotillion is going on a reunion tour through State College, with the Arts Festival as one of the stops.

Young said that while bringing in national and international acts can increase the overall caliber of the event, the Arts Festival should first and foremost be a showcase for local artists.

"Groups that come through that don't have that roots connection to the place and the people -- they're sort of mercenaries," Young said.

Lloyd also said he's concerned about the diminishing focus on local artists.

"Our purpose in starting this was to allow the local artists and music groups to showcase their talents, and the way the festival has evolved, locals have been pushed to not very good times to perform," he said.

Frantz said the number of exhibitions was higher when she was director. She added that while the number of events has gone down over the years, the overall quality of the festival has shot up substantially.

"We really did more things than what they do now, but the caliber of the art they exhibit now is really of higher caliber than what we've had in the past," Frantz said.

Some Arts Festival traditions, such as the banner competition, have been around since its inception.

The State College Municipal Band owes its very existence to the Arts Festival.

"It was organized just for the festival," the band's current conductor, Ned Deihl, said.

Since 1967, the band has grown into a year-round group and plays across the country.

More traditions have been created over the years, such as the road race, which began in 1971.

The food vendors who have stimulated the taste buds of many a festival-goer over the years haven't always been a part of Arts Festival, either.

"We didn't have any food concessions at the first one; we relied on people getting food at the nearby restaurants," Lloyd said.

Other traditions have come and gone.

One long-running tradition, no longer in existence, was a poetry contest, where local community members would submit their work with the winning entries being printed in the program guide.

"One thing that a lot of people don't remember that was just a great highlight were the fiddlers competitions on Saturday afternoons," Frantz said.

The popularity of the Arts Festival has drawn large crowds to State College over the years.

The crowds, especially of returning students and Penn State alumni, have caused some problems in the past, however.

In both 1998 and 2000, the festival's reputation suffered a blow when riots broke out in town during Arts Festival weekend.

"That did give us a black eye," Bryant said, explaining that some artists were put off by the incidents.

In response, the Blue and White society began AfterFest in 2001 in an effort to provide a non-alcoholic venue for young people who stay out later after the main festival events end.

It has also become tradition for State College to amp up the police presence during the festival.

"If someone had been transported from 1980 to 2006 they certainly will see a lot more security at the Arts Festival," Bryant said.

Bryant said changes in the retail landscape downtown, with many privately owned stores being replaced by national chains such as Abercrombie and Fitch over the years, has also made a difference in the Arts Festival.

"Their stake in our community is different," Bryant said of the chain stores. "They are less likely to be a big sponsor."

While the Arts Festival has changed and evolved over the years, some things have stayed the same.

"It is just a wonderful time to come downtown and enjoy the beauty of the campus and community and to make friends," Frantz said.