Sakura Matsuri (aka ‘Japanese Street Festival’) – April 10, 2010 – Washington, DC.

Okay, so technically this image was taken after the Festival (Sculpture Garden, National Mall), but the same day should count for something. (Pictured above, a friend, Danielle, sunlit with strangers.)

Street Festivals, a phenomena worth musing over. Not to put it too tritely, but there’s something refreshingly “old school” about reclaiming the streets. People mill about, dazed and sated with the hum of the swarm — it’s a magnet of activity because as a venue, the Street holds potential for those with commercial, noncommercial interests alike. Lacking public squares with the capacity to hold the horde, Streets provide space that serves to both contain Festival elements (sword-swallowing, food stands, old cars, musical stages…) and keep the crowd moving thanks to associations/structure of the road (thoughts of cars, movement, transportation, lanes…).

So why don’t we use the Streets as our public space more often? Are they only good as occasional fairgrounds — that is, are they only good for these sorts of large-scale pre-planned festivals which themselves are only good once in a blue moon? What are the dangers of using the Streets more often? No, really: it has to be more complicated than Angry Drivers, right? DC may have a good deal of public space that could make reliance on Streets unnecessary…but what about less architecturally fortunate places?

Are we thinking creatively enough about our space, or not?

 

Categories: Look, Muse

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