Thursday, October 1, 2026
It’s that time of year again, when Hewlett and Woodmere gears up for the annual Arts Below Sunrise festival.
The 12th Arts Below Sunrise takes place along Broadway from the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library stretching to Franklin Place in Woodmere, near the Woodmere firehouse, and is considered the largest outdoor festival in the Five Towns.
The festival is produced and presented by the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools Endowment Fund with contributions from the Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association and the HWPL organize the festival. It will kick off at 10 a.m. and wrap up around 5 p.m., on May 4.
Star Wars is the theme this year due to the date being known as “May the Fourth” and the library will have a meet and greet with “Darth Vader” and a “stormtrooper.”
Arts Below Sunrise is a community music and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) festival that has a multitude of musical performances, robotics presentations, petting zoo and hands-on science activities for children and adults.
“The name represents the goal to make the event the premier outdoor music, art, and educational event on the South Shore of Nassau County (below Sunrise Highway),” said John Roblin, chairman of the endowment fund. “The event is staffed by members of the HWPSEF and HWBA and provides a great source of community service opportunities for the students of District 14.”
Roblin is one of the founders of the festival and has been a prominent part of the planning all 12 years.
“The idea was always to showcase STEM initiatives in the district, the robotics teams have been showing off what they did since the very beginning, we had dance, music and a lot of stuff including local vendors,” Roblin added.
He enjoys the chaos that ensues before the big day and takes anything that may occur with stride.
“The day of arts below is just great, I love it, anything that might have gone wrong has gone wrong by then and little things always happen,” Roblin said.
Nicole Eliopoulos, director of Arts Below Sunrise, has lived in the community for over 20 years and this is her first time leading the festival.
“At first I just attended, then I became apart of the endowment fund and I set up my first tent in 2018 as a sponsor, as I am a State Farm agent,” Eliopoulus said. “I started becoming a member of the board and helping organize the event in 2022.”
She decided to step-up to the plate due to her active involvement with the business association and Valley Stream Chamber.
“I’m used to doing events and this was another thing I thought I could help move forward, everyone that was involved has done a phenomenal job but they’ve been doing it a long time,” she said.
Her aim is to get new members involved, especially those who want to get more involved but didn’t know where to start.
David Friedman, president of the HWBA devotes a lot of his time and energy into Arts Below Sunrise and has also been heavily involved in the planning all a dozen years.
“I’ve always been working on the sponsorships, because we need sponsors to cover the expenses and the endowment fund is issuing grants,” Friedman said. “Local businesses and families are great sponsors and we go to organizations for grant requests as a sponsor of arts below.”
He highlighted the Hewlett Fire Departments lie demonstration, training and trucks.
“There will be a special presentation from the Hewlett Fire Department in the library parking lot, there will also be a special presentation from Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish hospital, in Valley Stream on health education,” Friedman said.
