I paced myself a little better this weekend, lying low on Friday night, facing the taxman on Sunday. In between, however, downtown Knoxville was a complete circus. With tens of thousands expected for the Rossini Festival presented by Knoxville Opera and tens of thousands expected for the Orange and White game, it promised to be a bit chaotic if the weather cooperated.
It did more than cooperate. Rather than cold and rainy like we can have this time of year, or an all-day torrential rainfall like we had last year, the sun bore down like a summer day, with temperatures around eighty degrees and spots in the shade at a premium. In other words, it was pretty close to perfect, though probably more than a few of us have burns to show for it.
Urban Daughter, Urban Woman, Urban Girl and myself started the day together. Many of these early day photographs were made with Urban Girl in my arms. We started the day with an unusual operatic version of Kidstuff featuring a college opera company from Arkansas doing a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan. Then it was straight to Market Square for the children’s games.
Five dollars got a pass to play many of the games. Urban Girl took a spin through the inflatable games, but liked the trampoline the most. The second time around was the best one for her, and that’s good given the hot, forty-five minute line we stood through to give her the chance. The line for the extravagant face painting was about the same wait, if not longer. It also cost $10 and she wanted it off as soon as she got it on. Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t hitting teen turbulence about nine years early.
The footprint of the festival seemed larger this year, with vendors or stages set up throughout the surface parking lot beside the Bijou and from Cumberland down to Summit Hill, throughout Market Square and Krutch Park and on Market Street. And at its peak, almost every square foot of that space was packed. It was not a good time to be in a hurry.
But it wasn’t intended for hurrying through. Many of the crafts were of a high quality and invited slow browsing. I loved the carved sandstone and the baskets. I spoke to the woman who sells the colorful hats when I noticed she was shutting down. I asked her why she was closing so early and she said she’d had a fantastic day and loved Knoxville, but appeared to have had enough for one day. She comes every year from Indiana and says she has a group of regulars who are waiting for her return each spring.
The food varies in quality, but we enjoy taking a break from our normal diet. We each ate a hot dog for the first time in years and enjoyed some stir-fried vegetables and chicken. Several of our local food trucks were present, which gave revelers a gourmet, healthy alternative.
Another clever addition was two tasting areas for east Tennessee wines. One operated in the Krutch Park extension for most of the day while the other anchored the parking lot beside the Bijou from early until closing. The tents were packed at $15 a person to get samples from the various wineries. It was a perfect combination of local or regional with the roots of the Italian festival.
Music sat firmly at the center of the day, with various artists and ensembles running continuously on four of the stages, while the fifth featured dance. I had a schedule and high hopes, but I also had a four-year-old and, so, was a bit limited in what I caught. After the Kidstuff group I didn’t make it back to the north stage and I hated that because I really wanted to hear the Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. I likewise didn’t get much time at the south stage. The center stage was reserved for opera, of course, and I got to hear several artists there through the day.
The small stage just off Market Square in Krutch Park featured jazz for most of the day, ranging from traditional Dixie Land Jazz to more modern variants and ranging as far out as Norwegian Wood, which is so far out from jazz it isn’t, but they were good, as always. Some of the musicians, such as Vance Thompson of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, who will form the core of the upcoming Tuesday night Market Square series, sat in with the various formations.
I did get to spend some time early, and then a bit later with my friend Larry, beside the Market Square stage, particularly enjoying Circle Modern Dance. I missed Go! Contemporary Dance and I hated that. I’m not always sure just what Circle Modern Dance is going for, but I always enjoy taking the ride with them. Other times I totally connect and they’ve brought me to tears. Knoxville is fortunate to have a group pushing the edges of art.
My favorite part of the day or really any of these large events is watching people from the bearded man with the leather-fringed jacket drinking a beer to R2D2 making his way through Market Square. Some of the people are barely dressed while others are dressed to the nines. I loved the women from Comicon – which happened early in the day in the convention center – as they strolled down the street. Particularly, I love seeing the children having fun.
A couple of thoughts ran through my head as I watched the mass of humanity on display. First, I’m really glad the city didn’t move it from Gay Street. That really is where it needs to be centered. Unless it somehow damages the merchants there, I just don’t see a downside and I’d be surprised if anyone suffered. Our new pet store was swamped over on Union. I talked to Harvey, the magician you often see on Market Square and he said he’d almost gone home several times, but another crowd would gather and he kept going. He probably had a hundred or more people around him when I stopped by.
Contrary to moving the event from Gay Street, it seems to me that we should shut down Gay Street more often. It makes for such a perfect pedestrian venue and through traffic can easily by-pass it for the occasional day. New York City and others have done just that, mostly on Sundays, and simply let pedestrians enjoy biking, dancing and walking without the stress of traffic.
For the fan (you know who you are) who requested several days of coverage, like I did for Rhythm and Blooms, sorry man, this is it. But you can see more pictures in the Inside of Knoxville Facebook Photo Album, Knoxville Festivals, Parades and Events VII, starting sometime this afternoon. That will just have to do.
It was a wonderful event and hats are definitely off to Knoxville Opera for bring a high art to us regular folks. Maybe it will inspire more of us to check out their excellent performances.