By Lindsay Whitehurst
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Children are invited to build their own instruments and play along with the West Chester Symphony orchestra today as part of a weekend-long celebration of the arts.

"A lot of this is very family-oriented. Kids can build their own 'drumpet' and each section of the orchestra will wear a different colored T-shirt, so kids can tell what section is the woodwinds, what section is the brass, " said Ben Dibble, director of Children's Performing Arts of Lakota.

This is the first time in 18 years that arts organizations from West Chester and Liberty Townships have joined in the Fine Arts Sampler Weekend, organized by the Fine Arts Fund and sponsored by Procter & Gamble.

Arts performances will begin at 1 p.m. at Lakota East High School with a one-act play titled Choosing Sides for Basketball. At 2, Thespis Theatricals will present Once Upon a Time, another one-act play.

The CPAL Strings, made up of musicians in fourth through eighth grades, will take the stage at 2:45 p.m.

The instrument building and concert will begin at 3:30 p.m., with the performance at 4 p.m.

On Sunday, the celebration will continue at Lakota West with performances by the St. Romain Dance Academy and Lakota Youth Dance Company.

More than 150 performances and workshops will take place all over the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area this weekend. A schedule of sampler events is at www.fineartsfund.org and in brochures at Kroger stores.

For more information about the performances at Lakota East, call the West Chester-Liberty Arts council at (513) 755-0713.