WATERVILLE $ Live music, art and crafts will be on tap Thursday at the first "Arts in the Park" event to be held in Castonguay Square downtown.

Hosted by the community group, REM, the event is designed to help spark interest in ongoing artistic and cultural endeavors and encourage use of the square as a vibrant gathering place for visual and performing arts, according to REM's executive director, Faye Nicholson.

She said REM, a local network of volunteers working to help improve the quality of life in central Maine, is test-running the event to gauge community interest.

Painters, craftspeople, musicians and frame drummers are scheduled to educate, display, perform and provide hands-on opportunities for visitors, Nicholson said.

Contributing artists are Abbott Meader, sketching, painting; Janet Cahoon, making greeting cards; Maggie Burns, doll making; Gary Michaud and Meryia Michaud, singing country music from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.; Carl Daiker, explaining Russian crafting process; Grace Von Tobel, displaying African crafts; Kit Munroe-Myers, drawing, painting; Regina Oliver, basket-making; Forrest Meader, playing guitar and singing folk songs from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Norma Julia, watercolor painting; Nancy Desrosiers, displaying homemade crafts; and Phyllis Capanna, performing frame drumming while strolling.