Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Art by Night, Roanoke's downtown gallery walk, will occur on Oct. 2 and Nov. 6.

Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

The Southwest Virginia Ballet presents several new works at Patrick Henry High School on Oct. 3 and 4.

Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Opera Roanoke will present Verdi's "Falstaff" at Shaftman Performance Hall at the Jefferson Center on Oct. 3 and 5.

Courtesy of Katherine Devine

Face-painter Katherine Devine and her daughter Isha, above, aim to paint 40 faces in 40 minutes on Oct. 4.

Once upon a time there was going to be an arts festival in Roanoke the first weekend of October.

Now the first weekend of October is fast approaching -- and darned if there isn't going to be an arts festival.

It's just not the same one. The city last spring canceled plans to hold its second annual Roanoke Arts Festival over four days in October, choosing to hold a scaled-back, two-day festival in November instead. The November date was chosen to coincide with the opening of the new Taubman Museum of Art.

You could almost hear the collective Roanoke arts community cry, "Aarrghh!" however -- and the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge quickly stepped into the breach.

The result? Get ready for "40 Days and 40 Nights."

Literally. "There's something every weekend," promises Laura Rawlings, executive director of the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge, the organizer of the marathon event. "There's something every day. We are really, really rich in arts and culture."

The new festival will begin with the unveiling of a sculpture by Baltimore artist Rodney Carroll at the Roanoke Civic Center on Oct. 1. The sculpture has been purchased by the city. "We are excited to have the opportunity to be one of the kickoff events" of the festival, said Susan Jennings, Roanoke public art coordinator.

It ends nearly six weeks later, with the revised Roanoke Arts Festival's closing concert by country crooner Crystal Gayle on Nov. 9. (The Taubman Museum opens Nov. 8.)

Rawlings said "40 Days and 40 Nights" will help build momentum toward the city arts festival in November. "I would say that when the dust settles, what we're doing will help them reach new audiences and sell more tickets."

Arts festival manager Rick Salzberg said he welcomes "40 Days and 40 Nights."

"We all can only gain by working and growing together," Salzberg said.

Under one umbrella

It was Beth Pline, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra executive director, who noticed that the time span between the city's original festival date and the revised date was about 40 days.

It was at a meeting of arts and cultural leaders last spring, she said. Some in the arts community had already made plans around the first date, and were surprised by the change.

Pline last week gave Rawlings and the arts council full credit for taking her "40 days" concept and making it work.

"I don't feel like I've birthed a baby, but I feel like I've stirred up some excitement," Pline said. "I'm really proud that the arts council took hold of it and ran with it."

It must be said that little in "40 Days and 40 Nights" is new: Most of it was going to happen anyway.

The new festival's achievement, organizers say, is in finally putting under one umbrella a mixed bag of arts and cultural events that happen here every fall, when the weather and the scenery turn delightful and creative energy crackles in the autumn air.

"We have such an intense festival schedule and events schedule this time of year," Pline said. "This adds an energy to it and makes it seem like it was planned by the community."

Early this summer, the arts council sent out a call to any and all who wished to be included in "40 Days and 40 Nights."

"We said, 'Look, you take what you're doing, you give it to us and we'll promote it for you,' " Rawlings said. "So it was a no-brainer."

The torrent of responses has been turned into a 59-page booklet by designers Beth Deel and Wendy Schuyler of upUPperiscope Inc. The arts council has printed 10,000 copies and will distribute them to area libraries, coffee shops, Jefferson Center, Center in the Square and the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau in coming weeks. People may also pick up a free copy at the arts council offices at Center on Church across from the old Fire Station No. 1, Rawlings said. A schedule of events is available online as well at www.4040Fest.com

The events schedule is eclectic. No one was turned away, Rawlings said, so there are classes on pizza making and smithery along with performances by the opera and ballet.

As for opening day, following the 5 p.m. sculpture unveiling at the civic center, the festivities will move to the downtown Roanoke library, for an exhibit of artwork by skateboard and T-shirt artist Ken Marshall, said River Laker, the library's development coordinator.

Pop musician Doug Cheatwood performs afterward at the Water Heater on Fifth Street -- "if someone's got the stamina," Laker said.

Dancing on air

The "40 Days" events include the bulk of the city's fall performing arts season, with offerings from Mill Mountain Theatre, Opera Roanoke, the RSO, Una Dance Theatre and the Southwest Virginia Ballet.

But the festival is chockablock with less familiar offerings as well, from a photography exhibit on "coal and the Roanoke Valley" at Jefferson Center to "aerial dance" lessons at the Water Heater. (For adults only. Sorry, kids.) Individual artists are participating in various ways, including some who will open their studios up to visitors.

Face painter Katherine Devine will attempt to do 40 face paintings in 40 minutes at the arts council on Oct. 4. That might be a world record -- she isn't sure.

"I think it's a great way for the arts council to meet the needs of local artists and get us all working together," Devine said of the new festival. "Everybody says there's nothing to do in Roanoke. They're going to have a really hard time making that case these days."

Rawlings said the fate of "40 Days and 40 Nights" after this year has not been decided. The arts council plans a post-mortem with members once the festival is over. "We'll get together and say, 'What do you think?' "

Some have already made up their minds.

Artist Claudia de Franko plans to re-create a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in her Gala Studio using real people on Oct. 2, in a "tableau vivant," or living picture.

Asked what she thinks of "40 Days and 40 Nights," de Franko said:

"It's great. I think we should do it again."