Providence Art Festival

A few weeks ago, I attended the Providence festival for the arts. They closed down Kennedy Plaza, replacing all the bus stops on nearby streets, to the chagrin of many travelers. There were several parts to this festival: a street chalk art competition, a street of unique food trucks, stages set up for many different cultural art performances, and more. I was amazed at the scale of this festival, the city's dedication to it (changing the bus routes!), and the huge turnout.

The crowds grew larger as the night progressed. We started at the chalk art festival, where different city high schools or teams competed and passersby bought a coin for whatever piece they wanted to win. Whoever got the most pieces was the winner - my friend's sister was representing her high school with a fantastically vibrant drawing of a pigeon, which we were happy to vote for. As an artist, I had fun wandering around this area and marveling at the various levels of skill and creativity involved in each drawing.

At the beginning of the evening, the food truck area was not too crowded, but within a couple hours the place was packed. And not only for the food, which was all unique and varied, but the nearby music shows. There was an interesting-looking performance truck set up for something called "Squonk opera," what looked like a grunge construction-themed musical act. It was as loud and obnoxious as it sounds, so we only hung around there for a few minutes. More pleasing to the ears were the cultural music performances going on atop a stage set up in Kennedy Plaza, right where the bus to URI usually stops. We saw a band called Zili Misik, an all-female African/Caribbean/Soul fusion band. This we stayed for - the music and the performers had tons of personality! By now the crowds were getting larger, and we were lucky to be short enough to stand in front of them. They weren't bothersome, though - instead they inspired a sense of communal appreciation for everything going on around us. As we marveled at the music, we saw other people around us doing the same.

After this we wandered pretty aimlessly, and the crowds became a problem. There was a break dancing show going on and a solid ring of onlookers surrounding it. We even tried standing on a bench in the background to see, but that too was futile. The food truck area, which was between two major areas of the festival, was now so congested with people that it was quite an ordeal to try to cross. We ended up eating at the nearby Providence Place Mall, because there was no way we were going to wait in a huge line for one of the food trucks, delicious though they may be, and then have to find a not-packed place to enjoy our food. 

Finally, the journey home. Droves of confused URI students slowly filed to the alternate bus stop, and to top it off, the bus was over twenty minutes late, so a collective sense of unease was steadily infecting us all. Cruelly, another bus pulled up and decided to park just shy of our bus stop, and we all knew the URI bus would have to stop either behind or in front of that one. All wanted a chance to get a seat, but none knew which would be the best place to stand. The URI bus ended up stopping many feet down the street, and so an entire crowd of students sprinted down the road and sidewalk to get there. A line never really formed, but instead a mass of people tried stuffing themselves into the bus doors. I'm lucky my roommate lives in Providence and uses the buses often - she pushed her way to the front and got us a row of seats, so that when I finally boarded, 10 minutes later, I had a place to sit. The day was fun, but I was relieved to get off that bus and into my not-crowded room.