Now that the Spotlight Festival has had a few days, I have some observations and some kudos.
I did notice that the food booths have put down some type of matting as flooring, especially the ones that use a cooking oil. Still, the Kettle Korn tent on the corner of Lime and Main will have a stain about three feet out on all sides from the customers spilling some of what they buy. The roving staff are very good about picking up the stray litter and cigarette butts and the recycle bins are being well used.
The traffic situation was expected to be much worse than it seems to have turned out. Limestone, from Vine to Main, has been closed most of the daytime hours but the crowd has been sparse along there even at noon when the tents do good business but the Games are between sessions. Most of us downtown workers were told to expect parking problems and delays, yet I have had no such problems.
The music this past weekend and evenings has been superb. The crowd has been orderly and the "homeless" have been very low key. I did hear one comment during an evening session which went like this, "Now, this is what a downtown should be. Why can't we have a festival like this every year?" These types of comments usually come from those who don't realize just how much work goes into a festival of this size.
This festival is ancillary to the WEG and, if made an annual event, would have to be conjoined with something. I doubt that it could be a 2 week festival if done annually. Spotlight is also taking advantage of situations that may never align the same way again; the streetscape, CentrePointe block and WEG. It may spur interest in more and larger down festivals, but let us just enjoy this one for the time being.
I am not a believer in coincidence so I was amused to see our city workers out ,with a pressure washer and soap, spraying down the block of Corral St. (where the Roots and Heritage cooking was done). If this was a scheduled cleaning, why was it done almost three weeks after the event?
Do you have any thoughts on Spotlight or the WEG?
I did notice that the food booths have put down some type of matting as flooring, especially the ones that use a cooking oil. Still, the Kettle Korn tent on the corner of Lime and Main will have a stain about three feet out on all sides from the customers spilling some of what they buy. The roving staff are very good about picking up the stray litter and cigarette butts and the recycle bins are being well used.
The traffic situation was expected to be much worse than it seems to have turned out. Limestone, from Vine to Main, has been closed most of the daytime hours but the crowd has been sparse along there even at noon when the tents do good business but the Games are between sessions. Most of us downtown workers were told to expect parking problems and delays, yet I have had no such problems.
The music this past weekend and evenings has been superb. The crowd has been orderly and the "homeless" have been very low key. I did hear one comment during an evening session which went like this, "Now, this is what a downtown should be. Why can't we have a festival like this every year?" These types of comments usually come from those who don't realize just how much work goes into a festival of this size.
This festival is ancillary to the WEG and, if made an annual event, would have to be conjoined with something. I doubt that it could be a 2 week festival if done annually. Spotlight is also taking advantage of situations that may never align the same way again; the streetscape, CentrePointe block and WEG. It may spur interest in more and larger down festivals, but let us just enjoy this one for the time being.
I am not a believer in coincidence so I was amused to see our city workers out ,with a pressure washer and soap, spraying down the block of Corral St. (where the Roots and Heritage cooking was done). If this was a scheduled cleaning, why was it done almost three weeks after the event?
Do you have any thoughts on Spotlight or the WEG?
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