Thousands visited downtown Thursday for live entertainment in Muncie's newest venue and for the biggest ArtsWalk in 11 years.
People of all ages and from various different backgrounds came out to enjoy the evening's festivities, which included a soup crawl, YART sale, numerous art exhibits from area artists, live entertainment and much more.
"It's awesome seeing the streets filled up, actually," Doc's Music Hall owner Mike Martin said. "It looks like what you think a downtown would look like."
The ArtsWalk brought hundreds of people, both young and old, to downtown to enjoy the free food, art exhibits, festivities and everything else that the event had to offer. Muncie Downtown Development Director Cheryl Crowder estimated that nearly 2,000 people in total showed up to the event this year, making it the biggest ArtsWalk in its 11-year history.
"We work hard to welcome Ball State students to downtown, so it was nice to see so many in attendance," Crowder said.
The event was headlined by the grand opening ceremony of Canan Commons, Muncie's newest park and entertainment venue.
The ceremony kicked off with Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler discussing what he feels will be "one of our greatest assets to downtown and the community."
Tyler announced that the city plans to have bike lanes installed along High Street within the coming weeks as well as a round-about style bike trail called Muncie Arts and Culture Trail, which will stretch from the city's south side around downtown to the north side and back around ending at Canan Commons. The trail will connect to the Cardinal Greenway and the White River Walkway and is likely to be finished in the coming year, weather permitting.
The bicycle-friendly additions to the city, as well as Canan Commons, are part of a bigger redevelopment program aimed at providing opportunities for development and growth for the city.
"What you always hope, is that it will spur economic development and growth," Tyler said.
After Tyler recognized those who contributed to the park, balloons were released, a small pyrotechnics display lit up the sky, and America's Hometown Band was invited onto the stage to play out the rest of the night.
"This is just a small example where you have a community come together that wants to work together for the entire community," Tyler said.
The clear weather, which was forecasted to be one of the only clear days of the week, added extra incentive for art walkers to come out and enjoy the day. In the hours leading up to the event, fairly strong winds made it difficult for booths to keep everything together. The winds did, however, die down just in time for the attendees to come in.
"We were a little worried about the outside vendors at first, with the wind, but it died down and I think everyone had a good night. We had a good night here," Bob Hartley, owner of Artist Within, said. "We'll take the wind over the rain any day."
The YART sale featured plenty of arts and crafts, such as, photography, painting, jewelry, quilts and blankets, recycled candles, bookmarks, and other crafts, pottery and more. It also featured some familiar faces.
This year's ArtWalk was the second for Mike and Rita Koch and their pottery business, Klaytivity. The couple, from Upland, Ind., said the nicer weather this year allowed for more traffic to their booth.
The couple has participated in the Covered Bridge Festival in Mathews as well as the James Dean Festival. This is their first year participating in the YART sale.
"I've learned almost everything I know on YouTube," Mike Koch said. "I never went to school for it. YouTube is a great teacher."
Another vendor who reported more traffic was Toys Forever owner Brandon Mundell. Toys Forever featured an exhibit from the Muncie Modelers Club, a local plastic model building club, showcasing around 30 or 40 models the club has made over the last few months.
"We've had a lot of people in, and it's been a really great evening for us," Mundell said.
Entertainment was in abundance throughout the night all across downtown. Performances from the Muncie Ballet Studio, Ball State Jazz Ensemble, America's Hometown Band, Barry Banks and a number of local musicians provided a variety of entertainment for the large crowd.
America's Hometown Band percussionist Mike Costello said he was humbled to perform on such a big night for Canan Commons.
"I think it's great. I'll remember this for a long time," Costello said.
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