Looking ahead to the annual Freedonia Marxonia festival to be held in the fall at The State University of New York at Fredonia, community members and students are invited to participate in the Freedonia Marxonia art contest.

The art contest is intended as a fun activity to acknowledge the Marx Brothers and their connection to Fredonia. Using any medium (including items found around the house or in nature), creative renditions of one or more of the Marx Brothers are welcome from all ages and skill levels. Artwork can be realistic, stylized, caricatured, etc. It can be drawn, painted, sculpted, constructed, or formed in any original way.

The Marx Brothers were comedic stars of vaudeville, Broadway, movies, radio, and television in the first part of the 20th century. Their 1933 movie Duck Soup is set in the fictional country of “Freedonia.” In 1987, Fredonia students created Freedonia Marxonia: Marx Brothers Film Festival and Symposium to celebrate this connection.

Entries will be displayed as part of the Freedonia Marxonia exhibit in the University’s Reed Library. Entries will also be eligible for monetary prizes: $100 first prize, $75 second prize, $50 third prize. The exhibit will run from Oct. 4 through Oct. 21. Artwork is due by Oct.1. Please submit to Cindy Yochym in Reed Library. See fredonia.libguides.com/marxonia for more information. For any questions, contact Cindy at Cynthia.Yochym@fredonia.edu or 673-4966.

Freedonia Marxonia is supported through the Hahn Family Freedonia Marxonia Fund of the Fredonia College Foundation.