The inaugural Culture Crawl festival brought nearly 1000 residents and visitors to downtown Rahway for an evening of arts, music, and culture. Sixty-one events took place during a three hour period. Businesses and venues hosted poetry readings, musicians, and performers. Galleries organized art exhibit receptions. Artists, musicians, and community organizations gathered in the train station plaza, parking lots, and sidewalks to do live painting demonstrations, perform, and engage with attendees.

Participating artists and activities included:

Alex Shipley
American Repertory Ballet
A.P. Vague
Asha Ganpat
Ballets with a Twist
Cashmere and Special Guests
Christina Wilson
Chris RWK and KEV RWK
Creative Souls spoken word/poetry
Elite Starz
Fan Guan Ling
Guerilla Haiku Movement
Hayley & Robert Mankowski
Heavy Flow
Jai Simone
Jason Peters
Jean-Michel Pilc
Live painting by Demer, Rain, Kasso, and Snow
Matthew Allen Wilson
Michael Neff
Oktopus
Pearl Piegari
PWS Professional Wrestling Training School
Rachael Faillace
Rahway Dance Theatre
REDIMERE with Eric Koons
Slippery Cool
Sofran McBride
Sovereign Martial Arts
Sounds of the Street
Studio 210 photographers
Sue Zwick
Terry Benjamin
The Ugly Club
Usable Art by ABPryor
Vital Theatre Company
We Are You Project

Sponsors: Rahway Arts District Inc., The City of Rahway, Allume Events, and Celeste Santana.

Host venues: Arts Guild New Jersey, Earl’s Cuts & Curls, Elite Starz, The Rizzo Creative Group, Hamilton Stage, Liberty Harley Davidson/Buell, Luciano’s Italian Ristorante, Metro Fashio City, Park Square, the Rail House, RSI Bank, Sovereign Martial Arts, Striker Realty, Studio 210, Union County Performing Arts Center, Ventura’s Moving Company, Wick’ed Flame, Wizdom Media

Participating businesses: Cubanu, Flynn’s Irish Pub, On’ja Unisex Salon, The Waiting Room.