There was a time, not long ago, when folks in the Hudson Valley used to speak about the Catskills - especially up Route 28 past Woodstock - as the Wild West, a place where the laws started bending and culture took a backseat to the struggles of living in what many still considered a hardscrabble land. But no more: For at least the last 20 years, the communities of Olive, Shandaken and Delaware County even further north and west have gradually become an arts center on a par with not only Woodstock - from whence so many of its current residents have emigrated - but even New York City's East Village, whose early 1980s Renaissance scene many in Phoenicia have been working to recreate in recent years.

To celebrate Shandaken's role in all this rising artistry, and get everyone that much more acclimated with what the town's creative sorts are offering up these days, townsfolk are hosting a first-ever Shandaken Arts Festival and Studio Tour 2008 this coming weekend. Events range from a Friday, July 18 Artists' Talk & Slide Show at the charming little Town of Shandaken Historical Museum on Academy Street in Pine Hill, starting at 7 p.m., to two days of actual artist tours on Saturday and Sunday, July 19 and 20, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, with a special Gallery Opening and Meet the Artists event from 6 p.m. at the always-fun Arts Upstairs on Main Street in Phoenicia.

Among the artists participating - from painters to maskmakers, from musicians to assemblists - will be Stephanie Barnes & David Seche, Joel Benton, Durga Bernhard, Michael Boyer, Susie Brown, John Byer, Dave Channon, Margarete de Soleil, Ric Dragon, Wendy Drolma (Klein), Bronson Eden, Lynn Fleigel, Dana Fraser, Jim Gardner, Chip Gallagher, Shalom Gorewitz, Wendy Grossman, Hot Stuff Blown Glass's Mary A. Certoma & Alan M. Barbier, Peggy Kay, John Kilb, James Knight, Dakota Lane, Lucy Lasky, Ken Lovelett, Tessa Morelli, Naugatuck Narragansett (Harold Jones), James Nevin, Margaret, Gavin & Jesse Owen, Paloma, Matthew Pokoik, Ralph Persons, Christie Scheele, Rita Schwab & Salvatore Scalisi, Judith Singer, Michelle Spark, Faye Storms, Anique Taylor, Richard Treitner, Peter Wye and Mighty Xee. And, of course, others popping up as things get underway.

Opening at the same time will be the new Mount Tremper Arts summer festival, located in a newly built arts center in the small hamlet at the entrance to Shandaken. For more info on it, call (845) 688-9893 or visit http://mttremperarts.wordpress.com. For full information on Shandaken Arts Day, whose central headquarters will be at both The Arts Upstairs and the Pine Hill Community Center, on Main Street in either community, visit www.ShandakenArts.com.