By Devin Harrell | Special to the Independent
Glendale will host Super Bowl 57 in less than a week, and the party started early when the city hosted its inaugural Arts and Culture Festival at Murphy Park.
Many visitors to the heart of historic Glendale will be heading to the Westgate Entertainment District adjacent to State Farm Stadium for the big game, and this past weekend's event was an effort to bring in visitors to parts of the city they might not see.
“Our goal with this event was to provide an arts and culture experience for our residents in Glendale and the greater metro Phoenix community as well as all the visitors who are in town for the Super Bowl,” Glendale Arts and Culture Program Manager Mojgan Vahabzadeh said.
The free festival hosted dozens of local artists, businesses and performers as a collaborative effort between the city, Local First Arizona and the Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance, a nonprofit that brings together similar events to celebrate local artists and their unique culture.
The idea for the festival had been around for a couple of years but, “we kind of started thinking about this last summer and figured this is a perfect opportunity to do the first downtown Glendale Arts and Culture Festival,” Vahabzadeh said.
The park was crowded with tent canopies hosting Glendale-based small businesses featuring crafts, artwork, tea and coffee vendors designed to appeal to visitors.
“The idea is to showcase all the arts and culture that Glendale has to offer and let people coming into town stop by the event to see artists and businesses,” SAACA Program Manager Matt Rolland said. “We hope people come out to enjoy the arts and see the unique art installations we have.”
Tents were set up in the park with free interactive art experiences like mask-making, an instrument petting zoo, and a youth painting station hosted by Arizona Plein Air Painters, a group that’s been painting outdoors for more than 20 years at parks, trailheads and other locations across the state.
“Anything related to art and getting people together on the weekend all over Phoenix is important,” Arizona Plein Air Painters President Megan Jonas said. “I know this is the first year they kicked it off so if it's a good fit for us and a good fit for them then we would do this again.”
While many attendees said they would like to see the festival take place next year, the area is about to undergo a $72 million-plus renovation that will close Murphy Park until 2025.
The topic of where next year's event will be or whether it will be on hiatus during the renovation has yet to be discussed, according to Vahabzadeh.
Attendees of the festival were offered a “passport” designed to encourage guests to connect with the surrounding local businesses.
Participants who received seven stamps on their passport can enter a drawing for two tickets to Devour Culinary Classic, an award-winning culinary festival that features Arizona’s best chefs.
During the all-day festival the area was split into three sections between the park, local businesses, and a stage that showcased musicians and performers. Locals were painting on the street corners of boutiques in the Historic District next to the event.
