Last year, you might remember I saw this article about artist Amy Gallaher Hall. I was so impressed with her work and especially her illustration of a beaver that I couldn’t help imagining her at the festival. It turned out she was a regular visitor to the Napa beavers at Tulocay creek and even knew Rusty. She loved beavers and would love to come to the festival. There was one caveat. She couldn’t come in the first two weeks of August. Too bad. That would have been so cool.
Flash forward to the week after the festival, when we discovered our beavers were living in the creek near Susanna Street Park. We were so excited and made some careful decisions about how to share the news to maximize their safety. We started thinking and looking at Susanna Street park with new eyes. It had beavers. It had shade. It had a large beautiful central plaza that would be perfect for chalk art. A big colored square in the circle for Amy to work and a smaller ring around the outside for all the children’s drawing she would inspire. I could practically see it.
Just on the off chance we asked if Amy would still be willing. She said she’d love to! We asked ourselves if the festival could survive changing date, and park to follow the beavers north 8 blocks? I thought we could. So I started to talk to the city about the idea. Turns out, like everything else in Martinez, (take for example the 19 page special use application) use of that historic park is complicated. There can only be two events in August, one in September and none at all in July.
If the word byzantine just sprung to mind, trust me, you’re not alone.
So Art in the Park is the first event, and has been around for 50 years and is a beloved and unchangeable tradition. What was the other? Turns out it was Vallejo Shakespeare that used to be at the Marina and just moved there last year. Maybe they could be persuaded to move back or move their date? I imagined the lovely Susanna street stage would would be hard for them to give up, but considered that by not using our regular park we would save money on restrooms, electricity and the stage. Maybe a donation would sweeten the offer?
I tracked down the organizer and used my best manners to woo as persuasively as I could. I showed her cute pictures of beavers, children with painted tails and quoted that the quality of mercy is not strained. No Dice. It was all for naught. Yesterday morning I found out it wasn’t possible. VShakes was committed in the other summer months to other cities and could only come to Martinez in August, and couldn’t go back to the Marina because of the newly forming professional back park there. It wasn’t possible to change the rules and let three events in August, because Martinez. So that meant we could not be in that park and Amy could NOT deck the halls with beavers.
It was so unfair. Martinez probably paid for Vallejo Shakespeare to come and the beavers were native and should have precedence. To say I was disheartened is a vast understatement. For two entire hours I was depressed and hopeless. I even got a tooth ache and a cough.
The city said helpfully that June was open and maybe that would work? It sounded completely horrible to me but I thought I’d ask Amy and see. She said she would be happy to do any weekend in June and suddenly the cough started to go away. Could we get away with moving the month, and the park? Maybe if our famous beavers were back and we had a famous artist to promote it?
So we’re in the thinking phase on this. Pros of June would be that we could hit schools before they close and announce it with fliers. It would be less hot and horrible. We could promote it at earth day too and invest in some advertising. The media loves Amy and especially likes to watch her work. And June is the month when kits are born.
Cons would be it’s not August. It’s only 10 months away. Some of our regulars might not be available. It’s a big change for people to adapt too. No one might come. Our city could be insane and not want her to draw on their precious cement.
Stay tuned. Consider this a work in progress. But my tooth and cough are gone.
