The sun had come out and the sky had returned to a classic, cloudless Arizona blue when I wandered down an alley toward Super Bowl Central on Sunday afternoon.
I had visited Verizon Super Bowl Central for the Walk the Moon concert Friday evening, and I was absolutely blown away by how large the crowds were. The only similar event that I remember was the inaugural year of Viva Phoenix with 14 music venues scattered across downtown, but the crowd that festival drew paled in comparison to this group.
Call me naïve, but I expected the streets to be empty when I headed out for my Sunday stroll. I had given two days for the crowds to disperse from what I thought was the best Super Bowl-related activity and the game was about to start anyway.
I was as incorrect as everyone who predicted the Seattle Seahawks would win.
The streets were still filled with tourists! Some were wandering around while others waited to get in to various bars and clubs that otherwise would never have been open on a Sunday afternoon.
The loud, bustling bars and crowded sidewalks weren’t the only things that threw me for a loop — what surprised me most was that the teardown of Super Bowl Central had already started.
I couldn’t believe it! The event that hit the city like a whirlwind was being dismembered before the actual big event–the Super Bowl–had even started. Tourists watched as workers swept up confetti and lowered directional signs. Workers dismantled the giant climbing wall and emptied trash cans. Some tourists even began to assist in the takedown by cutting logo emblazoned banners from crowd control barricades.
The razing of something that caused crowds to say this is “what a downtown should be like,” made me think.
While this event was temporary and somewhat tourist-driven, what would it take to bring sustainable crowds even half this size to downtown Phoenix on a regular basis?
Contact the author at alacasse@asu.edu. Contact the photographer at francesco.onorato.89@gmail.com.
