Owasso's downtown 'Gathering' street festival becoming a big hit

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.儲存Oct. 01--OWASSO -- Civic organizers wanted a downtown event to showcase community pride.They have found it in "The Gathering on Main," a recurring street festival that is entering its third month."It's a little bit of everything," said Aura Thomas, a member of the Gathering's planning committee. "It's part farmers' market, street festival, concert, vendor fair, kids' area. To include that cultural element, we wanted to include the arts and what makes Owasso unique."We just really wanted to create an event where the community comes together, a time when people can get out of the house and meet their neighbors."The first Gathering, which was in August, drew about 4,000 people. The crowd grew to about 5,500 in September, Thomas said.October's event will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday on Main Street just north of 76th Street North."A lot of people have said this is what Owasso has been looking for," Thomas said.Chelsea Levo, the city's economic development coordinator, said the event is the brainchild of a small-business group that met for about a year."The idea grew very quickly," she said. "We wanted to empower small businesses to take this on and let them know that the city didn't need to get into the business of doing events like this. We wanted to encourage people and local businesses and our c儲存倉tizens to get involved."After the gathering in August, a woman opened a boutique and vintage furniture store in what had been a vacant spot on Main Street, said Bronce Stephenson, the city's director of community development."We're thrilled with the turnout, with the coordination and the buzz that it's started," he said. "It's helping us to continue the momentum we have of revitalizing our Main Street area. We have some good things happening down there."More than a dozen food trucks and 60 vendors are scheduled to line the streets Thursday. "Wienie Dog" races are being sponsored by Owasso Coney Islander, and the Owasso Indian Dancers will perform, as well.The featured music performers will be Todd Kessler and his band, "The New Folk." Kessler was on the third season of the popular reality show "The Voice."The Gathering is scheduled to continue monthly through December, finishing 2013 with a Christmas-theme event.It then will take a break for a few months before restarting in the spring."It's just gaining momentum each time," Thomas said. "People are coming out and having a great time. That's really what it's all about."Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉最平