By Robin Tarnowetzki
Journal Staff Reporter
Humboldt's downtown was loud and vibrant for Streetfest on Aug. 22 and 23, with concerts, face painting, food vendors, and street sales. Organizer Alfred Washburn says the feedback has been "mostly positive."
"The true intention was to highlight downtown itself, create a community event that keeps people in Humboldt, and give the people something that look forward to," he said.
And it certainly seems like they succeeded. Friday's events saw about a thousand people.
Saturday was a bit more somber, with lower attendance that Washburn attributes to the cold weather.
"I would have liked to see it busier," he said.
He said that if the event continues next year, he would like to see more kids' activities added to Saturday.
This year's Streetfest was a kind of litmus test to see if events like this could be successful in Humboldt. Washburn was very happy with how things turned out on Friday.
"People were talking about the Friday night concert," Washburn said. "A lot of people enjoyed the multicultural stage. For me, I was so busy that I didn't have a chance to partake in a lot of the actual activities."
Originally, the big draw of Streetfest was classic rock band Streetheart, led by Nokomis-born Kenny Shields. When that fell through, the Streetfest committee opted to not replace the band, and instead had Gravel Hound and 40oz. Philosophy play on Friday night to cheering crowds.
Washburn said that some of the street vendors talked about opening a business on Main Street, and he liked the idea of vendors using Streetfest to test out their wares before they hopefully set up downtown.
"All the vendors said they would come back for Streetfest in a heartbeat," Washburn said.
He added that everyone involved in the event - organizers, the city, advertisers - were great.
While the committee is still gathering feedback from the businesses, vendors, and attendees, Washburn said that everyone is referencing next year already.
"If everyone's talking about next year, I kind of did my job," he said. "Hopefully someone else who knows what the heck they're doing can take this to the next level."
