The Royce Files

Before I left for the summer home, I helped out at the street with some kids crafts and face painting. Unfortunately, we were not on the main thoroughfare, which you can see in the picture, but down the street and around the corner. Still, we had a good number of participants stop in, get a face painted, do a craft, have a refreshment, and view some art from our collection. I'm not really a big fan of the street fair but definitely like the fact that it draw people downtown. The street fair is typical cookie cutter year in and year out. I guess it makes it easier to plan and execute. I think I mentioned in another post what I would do to "liven up" street fair. I think there needs to be some aspect where people anticipate what's new this year. But then again I may not be the street fair demographic- which I think is mostly female, married, and older. Perhaps this demographic thrives on stability. Feel free to chime in any ideas you'd like to see implemented at the...

I saw this group playing old time music in downtown last week. It was really cool. You might never see this a the street fair which disappoints me. The guardians of the street fair would whisk them away. A shame, especially if they had purchased the appropriate license. Although the street fair is a popular even and draws many to downtown, I have found it rather pedestrian and banal in recent years. Probably from what I stated above. Tents on the street with wares just reminds me of outdoor mall. Something should make this event stand out more. Last year they added some street performers - jugglers I think. A step in right direction. My idea would be for multiple venues for performance up Broadway. Look for community involvement to create these "mini-worlds" much like Fargo residents do for the rest stations in the marathon. That would give it some class.