You could try adding a wine and cheese tasting with fine local wines. Or perhaps a selection of hand crafted beers. How about a delightful afternoon tea with crumpets and petit fours? Or an ice cream sundae Sunday? Or 50 brand new artists and craftspeople to add color and sparkle?

Better yet, you could add them all.

And that’s just what the Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival has planned for this Labor Day weekend. The annual event gets started Friday and runs through Monday, with 200 artists and craftspeople, music, entertainment, arts and crafts for kids, lots of food and for the first time ever — wine and beer.

“Many arts and crafts festivals serve wine and beer, and we thought it was time for Long’s Park to do the same,” says festival director Donna Stephen Reinaker. “It adds a nice touch of class.”

It’s Reinaker’s third year as director, and she views her mission as finding ways to make the festival exciting and appealing each year.

“We don’t want people to think that they came last year and it will be exactly the same this year. We want every year to be different,” says Reinaker.

The committee does that by selecting 200 artists and craftspeople from the 1,000 who submit slides for review. Each year, they try to choose at least 50 new participants who will make visitors take notice of all the new creations at the show.

From exquisite jewelry to fine paintings, wearable art to hand-crafted leather, gorgeous ceramics to incredible sculptures, the exhibitors are a blend of long-time favorites and brilliant newcomers, creating an ever-changing exhibition at Long’s Park.

That might be why Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival has become one of the top 10 most prestigious fine art and craft shows in the United States, according to the national rating association Art Fair SourceBook, recognized for quality and innovation.

“When you walk around the festival, you are spellbound by what you see. One after the other, these artists and craftspeople are amazing in what they create,” says Reinaker.

They come from all over the country, as far away as California, Colorado, Washington and Minnesota, and as near as Lancaster and Leola.

Among the new artists and craftspeople are Kurt and Lynda Pownall Carlson of New York with their colorful blown glass conversation pieces that look like talking heads; Robert Hessler of New York with his organic pottery in natural earth tones; Debra Adelson of New Jersey with her adorable hand crafted keepsake baby silverware and gifts; Hulda and Kenneth Bridgeman of Washington with their whimsical wearable art creations; and Melanie Kimmel of Latrobe, Pa., with her seaside-themed quilted pieces.

The new exhibitors are complemented by an array of other new additions to the festival, such as Friday’s new “Breakfast in the Park” benefit and an afternoon tea with Lancaster’s House of Clarendon, Saturday’s wine and cheese tasting with Carr’s Restaurant and hand-crafted beers from Stoudt’s microbrewery, Sunday’s ice cream sundae social from Coleman’s Ice Cream and Monday’s apple pie from Achenbach’s Bakery.

“These are all extras that make the festival an event that everyone can enjoy,” says Reinaker. The Susquehanna Style Bistro will serve food from area restaurants and caterers. There also will be live entertainment and a Creative Corner for young guests, co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design and A. C. Moore Crafts.

The Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival is sponsored by the Long’s Park Amphitheater Foundation, which helps to underwrite the Long’s Park Summer Entertainment Series.

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