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Having so many arts events inJoplin’s downtown district hasboth up and down sides.On the up side, they offer exposure to area artists and musicians, they generate money fordowntown businesses, and they promote tourism.The down side is the confusion they create by being so similar.After more than 10 years, people are still confounded aboutthe difference between FirstThursday ArtWalk and Downtown Joplin Third Thursday.Both are billed as cultural events staged at similar hours on the same stretch of Main Street.First Thursday has musicians and fine art, and Third Thursday has musicians and crafts, plus business vendors. But they haveno relation to one another.Throw in yet another cultural event, Joplin Arts Fest, which also features musicians and fine artists, and there's even moreconfusion, more than I wouldhave expected.As a member of the Joplin Arts Fest planning committee, I've been responsible for recruiting stage performers for the festival.Regularly, I’ve had to clarify tothe invited performers that, no, the festival has no connection to the First Thursday or Third Thursday events.Hoping to tamp the confusion, the festival planning committee decided that a couple of changes were in order. This year, it’smoving the festival from the downtown district and expanding it to a two-day event.This year’s festival is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 14, andFriday, Sept. 15, at Mercy Park at 26th and Maiden Lane.“It does give us a personal identity because there’s nothing going on like this in otherparks,” says Steve Doerr, who co-chairs the festival with Marshall Hogue.Expanding the festival to two days is aimed at generating greater attendance and artist participation from outside the immediate Four-State Area.It’s a no brainer that out of state artists are more likely to participate in a two-day event than a single-day one. Setting up booths in the early morning, manning them all day, then tearing them down and driving many miles home can make for a long day.As a result, previous years' festivals have attracted artistsprimarily from the immediatearea, though some came from asfar away as Columbia and Kansas City.By expanding to two days, the, festival was able to attract artists from as far away as Wiscon-' sin and Indiana. Of the 44 artists participating, 65 percent of them are from outside the immediate area, Doerr says. In all there are 26 cities represented, including those in the St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield areas, as well as Topeka, Kansas, and Tah-lequah, Oklahoma.Part of the reason behind theexpansion to two days and the move from downtown is related to logistics.When the festival was held downtown, it was limited to one day because set up couldn’t be held until Saturday morning. Setting it up on Friday wouldhave caused downtown traffic snarls and closing of streets, Doerr explains.Having the festival at the park allows set up all day on Friday, so it can kick off that night.Still, there are plenty of logistical issues that had to be considered at the park.Moving it from the convenience of downtown restaurants meant recruitment of food trucks. Nine trucks signed up, enough to make it a bit of a food truck festival. They’ll be serving a range of food — sweets, barbecue, tacos, Asian and evenvegan. There will also be beer, wine and mimosas for sale with drinks allowed to be carried through the festival grounds.The park location and increasing the event to Friday nightalso created the headache ofinstalling temporary electrical
Newspaper Details
Joplin Sunday Globe
Joplin, Missouri, US
Sun, Aug 05, 2018
Page 51
Full Page
Clipped by
Joplin P.
MO, USA 01 Apr 2021
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