The 2021 Gloucester Arts Festival will kick off on June 3 with the unveiling of sculptures on Main Street and a U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Band concert. But that will be just the beginning of the monthlong festival.

Returning to Gloucester for its fifth year, the festival will include a variety of events such as a Virginia Symphony Orchestra free community “concert under the stars,” a Brews & Brine event at historic White Marsh Farm, a bluegrass concert at Abingdon Church, and Cocktails in the Garden at Brent and Becky’s.

Festival-goers will be able to interact with plein air artists from across the mid-Atlantic at each of the events, and will be able to watch throughout the month as the artists paint the Heart of the River collection and compete for over $20,000 in prize money.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Artmobile will also visit Gloucester during the month.

“If there’s anything we all have learned in the last year, it’s the importance of coming together, being tog...