old town 20th birthday bash
Posted on 15. Sep, 2011 by Carrie in op-ed
words > TERI MOTT
Presto! Your dreams have come true. It’s the Old Town 20th Birthday Bash: seven days of live entertainment, crazy good music, partying in the streets, tours and food and shopping and all things gloriously Old Town. There will even be cake. (And booze.)
Scheduled to coincide with the above mentioned, legendary Chili Cook-Off (Sept. 24) and Blues Crawl (Sept. 25), the OT Birthday Bash starts Monday, Sept. 19 and continues through Sept. 25, so start disco-napping now, because that week you won’t have time to waste sleeping.
Why celebrate Old Town? For those of you who are too young to remember a time before downtown Wichita was cool (there were some great options then, but they were limited), we haven’t always had it so good. Twenty-plus years ago most of the terrific restaurants, cool bars and choice shopping venues were moving to the east and west edges of our fair city, giving the heart of the ICT a ghost-town vibe.
But there were diehards who looked at the abandoned warehouses and empty storefronts and saw a hot nightclub and eatery district, a place where galleries could thrive, a place where the sexiest pair of shoes or earrings was within easy grasp. And they saw the citizens of our fair city parking their cars and walking from store to bar to delightful dinner to film within the anointed district. Walking, my friend. And riding bikes.
These smart men were (and are) David Burk and Rich Vliet. They’d been working and playing in Old Town for years and they are both, well … stubborn. So they formed Marketplace Properties and development began on the Pasta Mill, Heroes, Larkspur and River City Brewery. Twenty years later there are 20 clubs, 25 restaurants, and more than 40 shops, galleries and salons in what we now lovingly call Old Town. People live in Old Town in outstanding condos (once pretty much unthinkable). And there are theaters, museums, and every kind of business you can imagine.
So let’s celebrate, damnit! Hit Old Town for lunch and play hooky while you indulge in some therapeutic shopping. Have cake and ice cream with the Mayor (and bring the kids). Then, on Friday and Saturday nights, party like it’s 2099 at free, live concerts in Old Town Square, where you’ll be able to pretend you live in New Orleans as you stroll the plaza with your frosty adult beverage. Outside. With your cocktail. Now that’s a party.
The Lowdown:
Weekday Action
Monday through Friday, Sept. 19-23, throughout Old Town
* Free and discount lunches at Old Town participating restaurants
* Discounts at participating Old Town retailers
* Street performers during lunch and after work
* Early evening bike tours
Party the Night Away
Friday, Sept. 23:
* Happy Birthday to Old Town
4-7 p.m., Farm & Art Market (First & Mosley)
Cake cutting with Mayor Carl Brewer at 4:30. Free cake and ice cream for the first 500 people. Live entertainment and fun for kids and adults. Free admission.
* Picnic on the Plaza
7-10 p.m., Old Town Square Plaza (Second & Mead)
Buy a box lunch. Live music and street performers. Outdoor cash bar. Free admission.
Saturday, Sept. 24:
* Old Town Chili Cook-Off
11 a.m., public tasting begins at noon. (Douglas & St. Francis)
Chili tasting, beer available, and entertainment. Tasting kits are $5 each.
* Party on the Plaza
7-11 p.m., Old Town Square Plaza (Second & Mead)
Street performers. Outdoor cash bar. Free admission. Concert starts at 8 p.m. Check out this kick ass lineup: classic rock goodness by Monterrey Jack, wicked rocking blues with The Watchers, and the psychotic, electric, balls-to-the-wall, fiddle and feedback musical stylings of Scroatbelly.
Sunday, Sept. 25:
* Wichita Blues Society Fall Blues Crawl: 5-11 p.m.
Visit www.wichitablues.org for more details.
