Old Lyme Midsummer Festival takes over Lyme Street

There's so much going on at the Old Lyme Midsummer Festival that it's hard to narrow which activities are the worthiest of mention.

Could it be the free Friday night concert by River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs? The bounty of art exhibitions? The concerts being staged on the Midsummer Festival Youth Music Stage? The Parading Paws Dog Show, where your canine can be judged in contests for best smile, longest tail and biggest paws? Or maybe the en plein art market?

The festival offers, too, a chef competition, artisans showing their work, entertainment for children, and, yes, there's even more than that.

While the event will, as always, be held at the Florence Griswold Museum, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and the Lyme Art Association, some other sites are joining in, too. The Old Lyme Inn, Studio 80 + Sculpture Park, the Bee & Thistle, and a number of Lyme Street merchants will be offering related activities.

To avoid those parking hassles, you can park elsewhere and take a free shuttle bus between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to Lyme Street. Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., the bus stops at these places: the Old Lyme Marketplace, Florence Griswold Museum, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Lyme-Old Lyme High School, Lyme-Old Lyme Center and Middle Schools, and Old Lyme PGN Library.

- KRISTINA DORSEY

OLD LYME MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL

The schedule includes the following. For more details, visit OldLymeMidsummerFestival.com.

FRIDAY

Free concert by River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs, 7-9 p.m., banks of the Lieutenant River, Florence Griswold Museum

Open house, 5-7 p.m., Flo Gris

Midsummer reception, 5-7 p.m., Lyme Art Association

Finnegan's Farm Exhibition and Selected Student Work, 5-7 p.m., Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts

SATURDAY

• At Florence Griswold Museum:

Parading Paws Dog Show, 9-11:30 a.m.

Market En Plein Air, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

The Midsummer Artisan Fair, 9 a.m.-3 p.m

Hands-On, Minds-On Education Area, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

BEAT Shoreline Chef Competition, noon

Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times and author of "The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout," will sign her book, 11:30-12:30 p.m.

• At Lyme Art Association:

Exhibitions on view, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Paperback book sale, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Lyme Garden Club sale, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Artists and Animals, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

• At Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts

Exhibitions on view, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Used book sale, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Midsummer Festival Youth Music Stage, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Author talk and book signing by Regina Barreca, 1:30-2:30 p.m