http://jwallacephoto.com/blog/art-festival-news/paseo-and-the-city/ Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:03:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://jwallacephoto.com/blog/art-festival-news/paseo-and-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-13303 Craig's Emporium Sun, 10 Apr 2011 10:34:07 +0000 http://jwallacephoto.com/blog/?p=705#comment-13303 What has been really missed here is the fact that, so many years ago, (as I well remember, as an artist that participated in the festival, in 1991, and 1992) the Paseo Festival started as a street fair. The street fair that included; local artists, local businesses, people who dabbled in art, simple people who loved art, and had it to sell. I remember Kirby who owned Zat's selling Birkenstocks, I remember a funny guy who, didnt make them , but sold great hats, I remember jewelry vendors that just wanted to take part in a show in OKC because it was close to home. My point is....the recent push by the Paseo Artist Assoc. to make The Paseo Fest a "copy" of the downtown show is so very unneeded. Paseo has proven it's worth and need no coaching, the artists and businesses that are open for people to view and see every day deserve the credit for bringing back the "GEM" of OKC, just as the surrounding neighbors do. As a person who bought a home in the Paseo, after putting a business there can say, "you can't just sink money into a blighted area and expect it to come back" it takes a surrounding support group. I love the Plaza , but , Im still careful of where I park. All and all, isnt there enough customer money to go around for all of us? Don't we all just love Paseo and progress? What has been really missed here is the fact that, so many years ago, (as I well remember, as an artist that participated in the festival, in 1991, and 1992) the Paseo Festival started as a street fair. The street fair that included; local artists, local businesses, people who dabbled in art, simple people who loved art, and had it to sell. I remember Kirby who owned Zat’s selling Birkenstocks, I remember a funny guy who, didnt make them , but sold great hats, I remember jewelry vendors that just wanted to take part in a show in OKC because it was close to home. My point is….the recent push by the Paseo Artist Assoc. to make The Paseo Fest a “copy” of the downtown show is so very unneeded. Paseo has proven it’s worth and need no coaching, the artists and businesses that are open for people to view and see every day deserve the credit for bringing back the “GEM” of OKC, just as the surrounding neighbors do. As a person who bought a home in the Paseo, after putting a business there can say, “you can’t just sink money into a blighted area and expect it to come back” it takes a surrounding support group. I love the Plaza , but , Im still careful of where I park.
All and all, isnt there enough customer money to go around for all of us? Don’t we all just love Paseo and progress?

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