PUTNAM —  The Aug. 1 First Fridays will celebrate architecture in all its forms, from historic buildings in northeast Connecticut, to famous structures around the globe. In this fourth month in the 2014 First Fridays season, patrons will be greeted with a variety of vendors, live entertainment, and community art from 6 to 9 p.m. 

Architecture will be prominently featured in much of the month’s entertainment and visual displays. Visitors to the festival will see a sand castle in progress, and can watch as artists work to transform a simple pile of sand into a sculpted work of art.

The Putnam Puppet Troupe Collaborative will take a playful look at architecture with a puppet show featuring the three not-so-little-pigs and their attempt to build a strong house. Spectators can expect problems when the wolf “house inspector” comes to survey what they’ve built!

Architecture is not limited to physical constructions. During the August First Friday, patrons will be encouraged to think outside the box by the entertainment for the evening. The musical duo, The Hornitz, challenges audiences to rethink the structure of a song by using human beat boxing and live looping. The result of this experimentation with instrumentation and looping is a dynamic spectacle not to be missed. 

First Fridays was created to bring the community together to celebrate the arts. And what better way to bring people together than working on a collaborative art project! The Community Arts Committee will be signing out disposable cameras throughout the evening, encouraging participants of all ages to snap photos of downtown Putnam. The photos will then be used to create a cityscape of Putnam and will be displayed throughout the month for all to see.  

Ongoing throughout the First Fridays 2014 season is the Faces of Putnam project, which invites the public to create individual self-portraits on ceramic tiles. This project brings to life the concept that it is the many faces of a town that combine to truly form a community. The October First Fridays event will mark the end of the project, with the tiles compiled over the season to be used to construct an obelisk. Tiles may be found at the Community Arts table and all ages are welcome to create their own self-portrait.

The public is invited to downtown Putnam. The events are free and there is ample parking. To learn more about upcoming First Fridays events, visit www.discoverputnam.com.