Color added to the red brick of downtown

By Yvette Herrera
Skiff Staff

The streets of downtown Fort Worth will be sizzling this weekend as 400,000 people converge to eat, view art and listen to jazz, rock or a little blues music — all entertainment provided by the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival that begins today.

Stephen King, director of the festivals and events division, has been working with the festival since 1995 and said regular patrons of the event might feel less crowded since the event management team designed the festival to be a little different.

The gourmet fair, for example, is closer to the main stage, King said. He said other stages and setups were re-arranged to help with traffic. The area where the art work is arranged has also been expanded, King said.

The International Festivals and Events Association announced the Fort Worth art festival as a winner of eight Pinnacle Awards at the 45th Annual IFEA Convention and Trade Show in New Orleans. The Fort Worth event won best event program, best overall merchandising program, best sponsor follow-up and awards in other categories.

The contest is a professional competition among many of the world’s top festivals and special events that drew nearly 1,600 entries from member organizations.

The president of IFEA, Bruce Skinner, said entries include posters, merchandise, Web sites, print and broadcast advertisements, community outreach programs and many other categories.

“The competition was very stiff this year because the level of professionalism and number of competing organizations were higher than ever,” Skinner said.

The festival is also regarded as the No. 1 show in Texas, according to the Harris List. It is ranked as seventh among the top 500 art festivals in the nation. A highly competitive show, the jury process is held in October before the festival. King said he selects five jurors and they view slides that are submitted by artists. King said this year 162 artists were selected. About 30 of those artists were invited back after last year’s festival.

Michael Madzo won last year’s best of show. His art work ranges in cost from $1,600 to more than $4,000. Originally from Excelsior, Minn., Madzo creates his images with torn and cut pieces of paper.

“I take torn and cut pieces of paper and other materials to start building an image,” he said. “Then alternate pieces of paper and acrylic paint as the image begins to take form. This continues until the final painting is complete. It is then varnished and sewn on a sewing machine with a variety of colored threads.”

Karen Scharer is another artist who will be featured in this year’s festival. Her art reflects her faith in imagination and intuition along with her fascination with the natural world. Scharer paints in acrylic but often incorporates other materials such as Prismacolor, metallic inks watercolor and graphite. Scharer is from Castle Rock, Colo., and most of her work is done on watercolor paper.

Art is not the only part of the festival. King said in order to help promote local musicians, two music entertainment stages are set up. There is also one performing arts stage where dances are performed and theatrical displays can be seen. There is usually a theme for each night, King said. This year jazz music will be played during today’s events. Rock ’n’ roll will take the stage Friday night, while blues will lighten the night Saturday. Sunday focuses on Tejano and “family-oriented” music, King said.

When Chicago’s undisputed Queen of Blues descends to Cowtown, boot scootin’ tunes to foot stompin’. Koko Taylor’s gritty soulful and powerful voice brings unmitigated joy to the blues.

“My blues isn’t designed for people to look down, but for people to get up and dance,” Taylor, who has won countless music awards across the nation, said.

Another featured musician, Angela Bofill, will perform today. Her music is an urban fusion movement of jazz and R&B.

The entertainment doesn’t stop there. Jim Jackson, a one-clown circus, will take the stand at the performing arts stage as he juggles five ping-pong balls with his mouth. Jackson has also been known to play Beethoven on a chicken. But that’s not it. He can also score a touchdown with a cabbage.

The Mondo Drummers was formed as an outreach program for at-risk youths. Eddie Dunlop, artistic director of the group, leads a group of children in the art of drumming and percussion and invites the audience to participate in a communal drumming circle.

From American to German food, patrons will be able to smell onions roasting on a barbecue grill and fajitas steaming from local restaurants such as Risky’s Barbecue, Garden Foods and Schmidts of German Village.

The festival started in the early 1980s by prominent leaders and citizens. They wanted to celebrate the rich culture and colorful heritage of Fort Worth. The festival has grown as Fort Worth has come alive with new businesses, merchants, activities and people. This year will be the festival’s 15th year running.

The red bricks of downtown won’t be cluttered with cars this weekend. Instead, colorful paintings from artists across the nation will fill the bricks and make them brighter. The glass buildings that fill downtown will reflect collages and other work, as music surrounds the air of downtown.

Yvette Herrera
y.m.herrera@student.tcu.edu