by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Friday Fest will return downtown. Organizers are just unsure of when and where it will happen.
Theresa O’Donnell Price, the City’s chief of Special Events, said much has changed downtown since the festival went on hiatus last fall.
“We have new partners now. There’s more synergy here,” said O’Donnell. “Things like JMoMA and Art Walk came online and they helped raise a much needed awareness for downtown.
“Friday Fest will come back, there’s no question about that, but I feel like we need to find a way to compliment those things first, not pull people away from them, basically work against them.
“We need to see how we fit in now.”
O’Donnell said the relocation of Downtown Vision, Inc.’s Farmers Market will have little impact on festival operations.
“It may actually help us,” she said. “Something like that only lends more exposure to Hemming Plaza and draws more people to it.”
Founded by the Chamber of Commerce’s Downtown Council in 2000, Friday Fest was originally conceived as an after-hours opportunity to relax and rub elbows downtown.
It was managed by the group for two years before being passed to DVI and ultimately to the City.
“Friday Fest may be a little ahead of its time right now,” said O’Donnell, “but it does have the potential to grow and I think it can find a healthy audience.”
However, O’Donnell said things will have to change before the fledgling event will stand on its own.
“It’s a mixture of a lot of things,” she said. “The thing is, people want to compare Friday Fest to similar events held in other cities, events that have had time to build a solid reputation and a name for themselves.
“People forget that they may not have always been so successful. It takes time and a lot of work on everybody’s part before you achieve that.”
Bolstered marketing efforts also expected.
Finally, said O’Donnell, consistency would be the critical component in making a successful Friday Fest.
“No doubt about that,” she said. “When we get it started again, we have to be sure that we let people know where we’re having it, when we’re having it and present it for what it is. That’s how you create stability.”
“We had a lot of fun playing with different themes last year and we’ll probably continue to do that, but it should always come back to the idea of promoting it as a fun thing to do downtown just before you start your weekend.”