Reno revitalizes image with monthlong art show

Biggest Little City is betting on shows to revive its downtown

By Scott Sonner
Associated Press
Published: Sunday, July 6, 2008 12:08 a.m. MDT
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RENO, Nev. — An arts and cultural festival that began 13 years ago as an attempt to fill a tourism gap between the Reno Rodeo in June and the Hot August Nights car rally is coming of age as a key component of civic leaders' efforts to revive the city's image and restore its sense of community.

The monthlong Artown festival offers free events each day of July in a downtown park along the Truckee River as well as ticketed-performances at area stages and theaters by headliners ranging from Ringo Starr and Wynton Marsalis to the Harlem Gospel Choir and the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago troupe.

Two decades ago, organizers concede, the arts would have been one of the last images to come to mind in the Biggest Little City in the World, where quarter blackjack tables and 99-cent breakfasts were the main draw for tour buses of visiting Californians.

Since then, the river that rolls through downtown, once strewn with garbage, has been cleaned up and is home to a world-class kayaking and tube float park. Free summer concerts are held at an amphitheater on an island in the park, and a 60,000-square foot Nevada Museum of Art has been built just blocks away.

"This is our lucky 13th year," said Beth Macmillan, executive director of the festival that features music, dance, opera, hands-on arts programs, film screenings and theater performances.

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"It's grown in size and scope. And I think Artown continues to change the way the rest of the country sees Reno. We're using arts and culture as a tool to do that, so that people around the country will say, 'They are doing WHAT in Reno?'"

The National Endowment for the Arts, which is supporting Artown this year with a $15,000 grant, calls it "one of the most comprehensive festivals in the country."

The original event drew about 30,000 to a three-week festival. Last year, more than 350,000 visitors attended with an estimated $15.7 million impact on the local economy.

Musical highlights throughout the month include the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, clarinetist David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness! Ensemble, Japanese-inspired drumming by San Jose Taiko and Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, a premier mariachi band.

The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction has been scheduled in Reno July 25-26 in conjunction with Artown along with such multicultural events as the International Film Series, Festival of Russian Music, Gospel Bluegrass, Native American Festival, Aloha Festival, Food For the Soul World Music Series and 41st annual Basque Festival.

The Movies in the Park series offers free showings of motion pictures ranging from Disney's "The Lion King" to Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo."

The Nevada Opera will present "Brundibar," which originally was performed by children in Nazi concentration camps, and the TheatreWorks of Northern Nevada is doing "Goldilocks On Trial," a courtroom farce dealing with the aftermath of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fairy tale.

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The Reno River Festival competition takes place in the Truckee River, which has been cleaned of litter and now is home to a kayaking and tube float park. Concerts are also held along its banks. (Scott Sady, Associated Press)
Scott Sady, Associated Press
The Reno River Festival competition takes place in the Truckee River, which has been cleaned of litter and now is home to a kayaking and tube float park. Concerts are also held along its banks.
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