Bill Louis is one of the artists to be featured during the event.
Downtown Winnemucca is getting ready for its first big Main Street Murals & Music Festival — a four-day festival featuring local, national, and international artists along with a large community event day on the 31st — taking place Thursday, May 29th to Sunday, June 1st.
Over the course of these four days, murals will be brought to life on over twenty-five walls in and around Winnemucca’s downtown corridor area as part of the overall downtown revitalization effort. Most of the muralists will come in that week, or even as early as the week of the 15th, in order to start prepping the mural spaces. However, a majority of the painting will be done during the 29th through the 1st. During the event, the muralists are open to the community coming to watch them paint and to having conversation. The theme for the murals revolve around the history, culture, and native flora and fauna of Winnemucca, highlighting and showcasing the community’s unique voice and identity.
On Saturday the 31st is the big community event day which will feature live music, a vendor fair, food trucks, and family activities. The main stage will be at the Winner’s parking lot on Melarkey Street with additional activities at the parking lot next to the library. The lineup will begin playing at 10:00 a.m. until dark. Meanwhile, food trucks and vendors will be set up in the Sundance and Winners’ parking lots to provide a variety of local crafts, and delicious food. In conjunction with the murals, the event organizers are partnering with the Chamber of Commerce who is holding a wine and charm party with the Trail Charms being made available at local businesses. The library will also be involved with events for kids and the Museum is finishing up their May Historic Preservation Month scavenger hunt.
The project comes as a collaboration between Winnemucca Main Street, the Humboldt Development Authority, Nevada 95-8- Regional Development Authority, and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development with funding supplemented by grants and generous donations from businesses and individuals.
“The whole idea is to generate funding for the businesses, not the event, whether it’s businesses as in the vendors that set up during the event or the local businesses that will get frequented,” says Michelle Hammond Allen, Economic Development Officer for the city and county. She added that another purpose “is to bring art and culture to the forefront and create a foundation for the continuation of that.”
Public art supports a culture of beautification and is a draw for cultural travelers; the event will not only beautify the aged, storied streets of Winnemucca, but will foster tourism, community engagement, cultural enrichment, economic productivity, and an overall sense of unity. The hope is to make the festival a yearly event in order to continue the building of art and culture in a community celebration and build Winnemucca’s mural inventory along with other possible art installations such as statues or interactive displays.
For more information, check out the Murals & Music Facebook page or email WMCAMurals@gmail.com. Stay tune for a website currently still in the works at WMCAMural.com which will provide maps and guides for the festivities.