The Grand Avenue Festival and Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts are back with a different spin on the tradition.
On Nov. 8, the organizations are teaming up to bring even more live music, art and local businesses to the Phoenix community.
The merger was an obvious choice for the leaders behind the 6-year-old Grand Avenue Festival and the 9-year-old Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts.
“It just makes sense,” said Beatrice Moore, board member of the Grand Avenue Members’ Association. “Both events are community-oriented, centered around creative art and free to the public.”
The officials with Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts were the ones to suggest the shift.
“Stephen [Strange] and I were hired by the Grand Avenue Festival for the last two years as street performers,” said Sahar Mitchell Strange, director and founder of The Production Agency for Participatory Arts. “We admired their event greatly, and the efforts they made with the new bike lanes and parking while being very ‘grand avenue funky’ and fun. They were always doing what we wanted, for people to come together in a peaceful way to celebrate.”
This combined event will bring together numerous events including live performances, vibrant art, shows and unconventional history lessons about one of Phoenix’s oldest streets.
A struggle for Grand Avenue is that people do not often visit the area, especially at night, even though neighborhood leaders have made positive changes in recent years, Moore said. The Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts, which starts at 6 p.m., will help the festival stay strong throughout the night.
“With the parade, the event will be able to retain a night crowd,” Moore said.
Despite the new collaboration, the foundations of each organization remain the same. It is beneficial as a community to participate in an event that celebrates the foundations of our city, Moore said. Grand Avenue is one of the few inner-city streets to remain standing, she added.
“Our goal is to educate people about the history of Grand Avenue,” Moore said.
Grand Avenue also prides itself on its sustainability, said Tim Sprague, president of the Grand Avenue Members’ Association.
“The Grand Avenue Members’ Association is a unique community consisting of a group of residents, artists, and business owners that are dedicated to the sustainability of the neighborhood and is a continued renaissance,” Sprague said.
Last year, Grand Avenue was one recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency grant “Greening America’s Capital.” The Greening Lower Grand Avenue project narrowed the street from five lanes to three as well as added planters decorated by local artists, bike lanes and on-street parking, Sprague said.
Sprague said that Grand Avenue is committed to being more pedestrian friendly and engaging the community with the rest of downtown Phoenix.
Grand Avenue Festival 2014 will continue to promote sustainability, but not just with recycling bins. The Grand Avenue Festival will again feature its popular recycled fashion show to encourage a green initiative. The Trashy Hat Promenade will also return.
Mitchell Strange said she wants the Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts to be “an outlet for people to express themselves” where art and audience come together.
“We are all about inspiration,” Mitchell Strange said. “People can be as creative as they want.”
Perhaps it is Mitchell Strange’s commitment to freedom of expression that attracts such a loyal fan base. Mitchell Strange said the first Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts had 300 people attend. The event has grown to draw at its peak 3,000 attendees.
Taking into account the combined events, Mitchell Strange projects 1,500 to 2,000 people to attend the Grand Avenue Festival.
“It is amazing how maybe 500 people will arrive for our day time events, and suddenly it is 1,000 plus people congregating to march in the procession,” Mitchell Strange said. “With the Grand Avenue Members’ Association, we now expect a wider audience in the day time.”
Mitchell Strange said the Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts is also planning a surprise.
“I can’t talk too much about it [the surprise], but I can say that it will be very noisy,” Mitchell Strange said.
This year’s Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts theme is “Modern take on the legacies we perceive from our Elders.”
“‘Grand PAPA’ is what we’ve started calling it,” Mitchell Strange said. “An invitation to look at history, at our elders, and have people explore what history means to them.”
Contact the reporter at Lauren.Negrete@asu.edu
