TAPPING IN: Tap dancer Omar Edwards is among the performers at the upcoming New Brunswick HEART Festival on Saturday, August 10.

State Theatre New Jersey, New Brunswick Cultural Center, New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC), and I Am D. Muse present the 5th Annual New Brunswick HEART Festival on Saturday, August 10, from 2 to 6 p.m.; hosted by New Jersey Radio Hall of Famer Bert Baron and Sharon Gordon, founder of TSO Productions.

This free, family-friendly festival celebrates the arts and history of New Brunswick and Middlesex County, featuring live music and dance performances; free dance classes for kids; food, craft, and art vendors; arts and crafts for kids; and free face painting, caricatures, balloon animals, and more. The festival will take place in downtown New Brunswick on Monument Square, 2 Livingston Avenue.

Before the New Brunswick HEART Festival begins, State Theatre will present a 1 p.m. performance inside the theater of “Bill Blagg: Family Magic.” The show is specifically designed for audiences of all ages. Tickets are $15-$29 and can be purchased at STNJ.org.

The festival lineup on the outdoor stage includes tap dancer Omar Edwards; the New Brunswick Brass; dance performances by InSpira Performing Arts & Cultural Center, Grupo de Danza Folklórica La Sagrada Familia, and American Repertory Ballet Dance Power Scholars; Motown and funk hits performed by The Suyat Band; beats by DJ IZM; a speaker from George Street Playhouse’s presentation of What the Constitution Means to Me; a poetry reading by Thinkery & Verse; and an opening set by the winners of STNJ’s Jersey Talent show, the band Crowfield, and a salsa dance class with Elvis Ruiz at 5:30 p.m.

There will also be a free Studio Exhibition, open from 12-6 p.m. and located in the State Theatre’s Studio space. The exhibit celebrates the history of the arts in New Brunswick featuring old playbills, posters, videos, 1920s-1970s memorabilia, student artwork, set pieces, and costumes from Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet; State Theatre New Jersey; George Street Playhouse; Crossroads Theatre Company; and Plays-In-The-Park.

Other events include a health and wellness area with Garden of Healing; and a history corner featuring historical interpreters by the Arts Institute of Middlesex County’s East Jersey Old Town Village and Cornelius Low House. Additional activities include button-making with the New Brunswick Free Public Library; Japanese black ink drawing with the Highland Park Arts Commission; arts and crafts with Dibble and Dabble; free print making with Frontline Arts; and chalk art with Sharpened Mindz. Also, featured at the festival are free dance classes for kids hosted by American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School including Beginning Dance for ages 4-8 at 4 p.m. and Contemporary for ages 9-16 at 5 p.m.

For more information, visit stnj.org.