Banuelos wants to wind up where he started

LOTTERY

First Posted: 5/8/2014 Would it be a good idea to &#8230;
&#8230; draw bigger crowds to Wilkes-Barre to support the annual Fine Arts Fiesta by scheduling compatible events at nearby Kirby Park or the River Common?
The arts festival, which opens Thursday for its typical four-day run on Public Square, has become a mid-May fixture on many area residents&#8217; calendars. Yet, since its founding in 1956, it remains a relatively small affair compared to sizable shows in, say, State College and Lancaster.
Why not try to boost attendance by, for instance, pushing back the date of the Wilkes-Barre Cherry Blossom Festival by a couple of weeks to run concurrent with the arts festival? The former, after all, consists largely of local dancers and musicians &#8211; artists! &#8211; performing in Kirby Park over a two-day span. It seems the audience from one event would naturally be drawn across the Market Street Bridge to the other, benefiting both. Certainly the fiesta&#8217;s food vendors would appreciate more foot traffic. Ditto for downtown restaurant and shop owners.
If for some reason these festivals can&#8217;t be coordinated, consider other options: a nature photography show and sale on the River Common, a &#8220;battle of the bands&#8221;-type competition, poetry readings, book signings, a fiddle contest, a flea market. Something to entice more visitors and invigorate the downtown atmosphere.
We didn&#8217;t assemble city officials and try to paint a picture of this idea for them to consider. We want to know what you think. Could Fiesta time become a fuller, more festive, experience?
The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts and certain businesses are perfectly poised to further promote, and to feed off of, the Fine Arts Fiesta&#8217;s positive energy. They could add to the vibe, as many have done through the years, by holding simultaneous art displays. Why not add a week-long movie festival? Why not encourage every downtown eatery to position by its door a solo guitarist? Could the former Ramada hotel parking garage become a temporary, multilevel art gallery?
Make no mistake; we&#8217;re not criticizing the Fiesta&#8217;s volunteer organizers. They&#8217;ve done a masterful job through the years of sustaining this adult and student juried art show. It regularly features an artists&#8217; market, musicians at the band shell, strolling entertainers and food vendors. (For specifics, see fineartsfiesta.org).
Perhaps they&#8217;ve kept the scope of activities confined to the city&#8217;s hub by design. Perhaps, we can easily imagine, their plates are simply too full to make expansion a priority.
However, it seems Wilkes-Barre is passing up a fine opportunity by not further capitalizing on the success of its Fine Arts Fiesta.
Give us your feedback about this idea by sending a letter to the editor or by posting comments to this editorial at timesleader.com or facebook.com/timesleader. Likewise, share your idea for improving the community and making area residents&#8217; lives better. Maybe we&#8217;ll spotlight your suggestion in a future editorial and ask readers, &#8220;Would it be a good idea to &#8230;&#8221;

OUR OPINION: IS THIS A GOOD IDEA? Allow Arts Fiesta to really blossom