It may be an idea borrowed from the big city, but Okotoks’ arts community and downtown merchants are determined to make it their own.
Beginning April 2, First Saturdays will be a monthly festival of arts and culture geared to giving local residents additional reasons to frequent Olde Towne Okotoks.
Sandra Neill, who is the lead coordinator for the event, said it’s something adapted from her previous promotional experience.
“I moved here from Calgary about a year and half ago and I used to be on the board of the cultural district there,” she said. “I’m also the director of marketing for Art Central. Through those organizations I have been doing First Thursdays for about seven years in the cultural district of Calgary. I thought it’s an idea that would also work really well in Okotoks, in particular Olde Towne Okotoks.”
The event is designed to be the coming together of many downtown neighbourhood forces. The first Saturday of each month the art venues, restaurants, community organizations and boutiques of Olde Towne Okotoks will provide a mix of special activities, everything from live concerts and theatre shows to activities on the street and food and wine tastings.
For the initial First Saturdays on April 2 some of the things to experience will be a bilingual free movie at the Okotoks Public Library, complimentary tasting of gelato and European hot chocolate at Figaro’s Gelateria and a surprise street performer at Monkey Mountain Toys and Games. A thorough list of events, their locations and times can found on-line at www.okotoksartscouncil.ca
Neill said the enthusiasm from her partners for First Saturdays has been solid ever since she initially brought up the idea.
“I joined the Okotoks Arts Council in September or October,” she explained. “I pitched the idea to them; the council should be the one to put on this project. Everyone seemed very keen.”
Okotoks’ cultural leader Allan Boss has been busy securing activities for First Saturdays including booking concerts at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre (RPAC).
Two local musicians, Jim McLennan and Paul Rumbolt, will kick off the First Saturdays at the RPAC on April 2 at 7 p.m.
“Paul’s got one of the best voices in the foothills and Jim’s one of the best guitar players around so it’s going to be an interesting concert,” said Boss.
Boss said the day will also feature two new exhibits at the Okotoks Arts Gallery, a student art collection and a photography display by Anne and Mark Durocher-Weston.
Not a question of promoting local arts from scratch, Boss instead said he sees First Saturdays as a means of pulling existing things together into one can’t miss attraction.
“I think the idea is not to do anything we’re not already doing as a community,” he said. “I think the idea is to focus our events on those First Saturdays as much as possible and that way downtown becomes the place to be on those days.”
While local cultural venues have been on board since day one with the idea of a monthly arts festival, Bev Geier, past president and current board member with the Olde Towne Okotoks Merchants Group, said initial reaction to the original pitch was cooler from local businesses.
“I don’t think merchants were really buying in at the time,” she said. “It took some talking about it and some convincing to get them to feel more comfortable about how it could bring more people downtown.”
Geier admitted one major factor that could have been limiting enthusiasm was the recent long stretch of bitterly cold weather, the belief being there wasn’t really anything you could do to get people out shopping if the weather was lousy.
Now Geier said there is considerably more enthusiasm from retailers and the push is on to get them to come up with their own ways to entice people to come for the monthly event.
“On those days we expect to have more people downtown,” she said. “So we’re asking merchants to put on specials, have sales; do those sort of things.
First Saturdays is designed to include activities throughout the day and the first chance to sample it is April 2. Check out www.okotoksartscouncil.ca for more details.
