by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
It was a labor of love engineered by people who love downtown and want to see it flourish. It’s FridayFest, the party held in Hemming Plaza that — just like the venue hosting it — has been through a multitude of ups and downs and is currently on the cusp of revival.
FridayFest was conceived inside the Chamber’s Downtown Council two years ago. Fred Seely, the 2000 Council president, and Lisa Rowe Baer, the vice president, wanted something to energize the Council and downtown in general.
“Attendance at our meetings wasn’t what it should have been and we felt that a project might tie everyone together,” Seely recalled.
Rowe Baer had enjoyed downtown parties in Little Rock, Ark., and suggested the idea. “I’m not sure anyone except Lisa knew what would take place, but everyone on the board went along with her,” said Seely. “Maybe none of us wanted to admit our ignorance.”
At the time, Rowe Baer was working at a special events company and was familiar with coordinating projects like the one envisioned for FridayFest. (She has since transitioned to the position of public information officer for the Better Jacksonville Plan.) She put the initial plan together at the Council’s next board meeting. Then, Rowe Baer and Seely collaborated to see if anyone would fund it.
“The first person we visited was BellSouth’s Jim McCollum,” said Seely, who is the editorial director for Bailey Publishing. “After Lisa explained what we were trying to do, he said, ‘I’ll give a thousand.’ We figured if someone as smart as McCollum would go along, maybe we had something.”
The next step was to generate support from local politicians and Rowe Baer visited City Council members whose districts include downtown.
Rowe Baer recalls the many volunteer hours and partnership meetings she had in the beginning.
“We wanted this to really mobilize all of downtown,” she said, “and pull together the downtown restaurants, organizations, cultural venues and businesses so that everybody could benefit.”
Rowe Baer and her co-chair, Gillian Baker of the Cultural Council, went door-to-door, speaking to local groups and offices about staying downtown on Friday nights and supporting the idea financially. They were working with limited marketing dollars and so they had to rely on local news media to generate buzz.
“With that, we were very successful,” said Rowe Baer.
The idea spent a summer in planning and received help from numerous City agencies, other activists from Downtown Council and its Downtown Enhancement Committee, which is responsible for things like painting the Jaguar paw prints on Bay Street.
The name started as “Friday in the Plaza” and became “FridayFest” at the encouragement of City Council member Reggie Fullwood, who helped garner City money for the event.
FridayFest started in the fall of 2000 and attracted crowds of 500-800 people who came to hear live music in Hemming Plaza.
When Downtown Vision, Inc. (DVI) was created, it took over the party.
And the next year, a combination of events caused an environment where FridayFest lost its steam. DVI moved the party to Thursday and changed the name to Downtown Live. By the time three parties had gotten underway in the late summer, Sept. 11 happened. That, combined with consistent rain that month, lowered the crowds to near 100.
“We tried something different and it didn’t work out,” said Terry Lorince, who ran a downtown revitalization project in Pittsburgh before moving to Jacksonville to become executive director of DVI.
On Sept. 18, the weekend after Sept. 11, the party was moved inside to Snyder Memorial Church and the River City Band played to a patriotic crowd of 60.
So this year, DVI got serious. A task force was formed, including people such as Carolyn Cantrell, who works for the Jacksonville Symphony and is the founder of the popular Cowford Club for Jacksonville twentysomethings, and Tim Rose, president of the Chamber’s Northwest Council.
The group decided to organize other groups that were trying to generate a buzz downtown such as eHappy Hour and Men of Vision. The Dalton Agency’s Michael Munz was put in charge of public relations. Lorince got everyone together for meetings at The Seminole Club, just across from Hemming Plaza.
Decisions had to be made about marketing, venues and music and food. DVI already has received support from local radio station FM-102.9, PRI and the City. They are hoping that the momentum generated after a successful first event will lead to more sponsors. Hard Ball Design in San Marco designed the posters.
The new vision for FridayFest is theme parties in Hemming Plaza, featuring live music and catered food. The first event is Friday and features a Latin theme. Ed’s Spanish-American is catering. The event will start at 4:30 p.m. DVI has permission from parking lots downtown to allow free parking. Local restaurants and JMoMA will be open late.
“Our mission to change perceptions about downtown,” said Lorince. “We are very optimistic about a successful event.”