NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen will hold a public meeting Dec. 16 to consider a request from Norway Arts Festival officials to close Main Street on July 9.
Last year, for the first time, the board approved closing the street to vehicle traffic from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the day of the sidewalk art displays. This year, festival officials are asking it be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“That's when the artists are setting up on the street. It's a little nerve wracking when cars go by,” said festival organizer Brenda Melhus, who made the request at Thursday's board meeting. The board approved the application for an outdoor festival license.
The street closure was proposed by the festival committee for the safety of people who must walk in the street to get around the art displays.
An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people attend the art show, which is the last day of the three-day Norway Arts Festival sponsored by the Norway Downtown and the Western Maine Art Group. Art work is exhibited along Main Street sidewalks from Lynn Street/Greenleaf Avenue to Whitman Street and Pikes Hill.
Melhus said the organizers are requesting an extra two hours because the artists begin to set up their tents about 7 a.m. and are removing them until about 5 p.m. Although last year it rained on the arts festival for the first time and some artists left, Melhus said all artists will be required to stay on site, even if it rains.
The move to close a portion of Main Street, which is a state road, has been under discussion for the past several years for safety reasons, but it was not until last year that the state Department of Transportation finally told the town they would not allow the closure.
State officials advised town officials they could exercise their police powers to reroute traffic as long as it maintained a minimal disruption.
The public hearing will allow residents and business owners to express concerns about the street closure before th Board of Selectmen vote on the request.
Report a correction
Closing the street for the day?
If the artists want people to come to the art festival, they would do better by moving it to a more remote location and not bothering with downtown Norway at all. Move it to the Oxford Fairgrounds. That locale has lots of parking, and places to hang your art. Norway would be quieter and less crowded. That wouldn't be bad at all for that day.
The businesses on that street would also benefit more if the traffic were allowed to flow through town, as well. They depend on the art show to bring customers in. This doesn't work when you have no customers at all.
By diverting the traffic AWAY from the street where they will be displaying their work, they are discouraging people from even stopping to see their work. Why stop for something you're not allowed to see in the first place? In effect they're saying: "We're so special that we have to close the street and tell you to go around us just to make us feel safe."
Portland's Art Show is far better because they DON"T close Congress street for the day-it would be impossible for it to even exist.
Who wants to bother with stopping if they're not encouraged to do so in the first place?
Sure, the artists are entitled to feel like they can just stop the entire world on their whim, but people won't go out of their way to see something if they're directed in the opposite direction.
As for forcing the artists to stay through the entire show, that's just dumb.
The Art Festival organizers better be prepared for a very bad show, because if I were an artist, I wouldn't even bother to sign up. I wouldn't show my work after being told I have to stay the entire day, when it takes hours to set up and pull down an exhibit.
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Kudos AwardedDisagree (4) Agree (3)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.