Businesses on Grand Avenue celebrated ten years of art, food and success Saturday in the annual Grand Avenue Festival event put on by Grand Avenue Arts and Preservation.
Every year, the festival features numerous artists, musicians and restaurants, and allows attendees to tour several historic sights around the neighborhood. Festival organizers and businesses said the 10-year anniversary festival expanded the neighborhood’s exposure and brought many new people to experience some of the hidden gems that reside along Grand Avenue.
Beatrice Moore, Director of Grand Avenue Arts and Preservation, said the goal of the festival each year is to expose more people to Grand Avenue as both an artsy and historical district.
“We just try really, really hard to get more people down here,” she said. “Once people get down here and they walk down the street, they realize, ‘Oh, this is a cool little neighborhood.’ They feel a little more comfortable coming back on their own.”
Moore said this year in particular, the festival focused on catering to families, not just adults, with fun activities like the sticker scavenger hunt challenge and sponsored face painting.
“We were very much encouraging children to come,” she said. “I think that it really welcomes people as families to come down, which is not always the case – sometimes these seem more like adult events.”
According to Moore, the 10th Anniversary festival was bigger than last year’s festival, largely due to more outreach on social media and more advertising.
Britt Kemp, 30, volunteered as a “Wandering Guide” for the festival, providing information and assistance to festival-goers throughout the day.
“This is the biggest I’ve ever seen [the festival],” she said. “This year elevated it to a different level that it hasn’t been in the past.”
Kemp said it seemed like the addition of new businesses in the area is drawing more attention, and more people are coming to recognize Grand Avenue as a popular area, both artistically and historically.
“I think it’s important to make sure that these events keep happening, and that people know about them. I think that [the festival] is very valuable for the community, and I’m happy to support it in any way I can,” said Kemp.
Tyvette and Charles Edwards, a couple who live nearby, said they attended the festival on a whim after seeing a sign advertising for it and heard music while walking their dogs.
The couple have lived in Phoenix for three years, but said it was their first time coming to the festival.
“You’ll find it splashed everywhere. In little allies and little cutaways,” Charles said.
Walking along Grand Avenue, various parts of the sidewalk, storefronts and even the fences are decorated with colorful pieces of artwork.
Tyriq Sabur, a Phoenix-based fine art tattooist, participated in the event for the third year in a row. He talked about how his business grows from attending the festival every year.
“I would say the biggest thing it brings is not exposure but the ability to network with other artists and interface with the community,” he said.
He mentioned that the festival has grown a lot, especially as Grand Avenue has grown over the years.
“It used to be much more of a street fest,” he said. “Whereas now, there are multiple businesses at every stop along the way.”
One such business is ABLOOM Salon + Abe Zucca Gallery. It has been on Grand Avenue for five years, according to the salon’s owner, Alejandra Martinez.
Martinez and her husband, Abe Zucca, run ABLOOM Salon + Abe Zucca Gallery in their building on Grand Avenue.
She said they were attracted to the area because of its ‘underground’ feel.
“I moved in here knowing that there wasn’t walk-in traffic and I liked that. I enjoyed the fact that it’s underground and the only few people who know about it are artists.”
She said the increase of exposure to Grand Avenue over the years, from events like the Grand Avenue Festival, has made more people interested in visiting businesses and creating their own in the area.
“What I think has happened with more people coming is more businesses feel like they’ll grow here. It just brings a new synergy to the space,” said Martinez.
She said as artists, she and her husband feel at home in Grand Avenue.
“The art community here just feels like it’s our people,” she said. “It’s just easy for us.”
Contact the reporter at alfuente@asu.edu.
