Fall festival set for Depot Green
Aug. 4—A summer of activities at Muskogee's Depot Green will be capped off in September with an inaugural fall festival that will feature arts, crafts, music, food and fun.
LocalMotion Arts Festival, a daylong event, will kick off at 10 a.m. Sept. 18 and continue until 10 p.m. Arts and music venues will open on and around Depot Green.
The Okie Re-enactors will stage "trolley robberies" at scheduled times throughout the day in the Three Rivers Museum parking lot. Muskogee Little Theatre will host the Cruisin' Angels Car and Model T Club show in its parking lot.
Muskogee Parks and Recreation Director Mark Wilkerson said All Aboard Thursdays have attracted increased interest throughout the summer with early evening performances by local musicians. He and others who were instrumental in the development of the Depot Green said they hope the fall festival will generate even more interest.
"With the green space and the programming that we can add, it will keep bringing people down there," Wilkerson said. "It's a natural, I think ..., and we're going to just keep plodding along and try to get people to come down there and ... create that synergy."
Wren Stratton of the Muskogee Arts Guild said LocalMotion Fall Festival will be a collaborative effort, much like Depot Green. The public green space in the Depot District is the product of private-public partnerships forged over a period of years.
"The thing I'm always the proudest of with Depot Green is that it's such a great example of what happens when people work together," Stratton said. "When you collaborate or pool your resources — leveraging what everybody can bring to the table — it makes such a difference."
Stratton said that's "what makes Depot Green so special: It's an example of what this community can do." She believes the same will be true for LocalMotion, which will end with two inductions into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Induction festivities will kick off at about 6 p.m. on the big stage just outside OMHOF Museum. The first inductee, who has yet to be announced, will kick off the evening performances.
Ann Bell, a vocalist who forged her identity while performing with Leon Russell and helped shape what is known now as the Tulsa Sound, is the second inductee. Bell, who also has performed with the GAP Band, J.J. Cale, Gary Busey, Joe Cocker, Todd Rundgren and others will close out the night by performing with her nine-piece band.
Wilkerson said vendors and artists are being solicited for the Sept. 18 event. Artists with original works, he said, can rent booth space for $25, and those selling art and crafts made by others may rent booth space for $50.
Wilkerson said original art is preferred, but everyone is welcome. There are plans for a juried art show in the future.
We want to get people to come out and give us a try," Wilkerson said. "If you're an original artist, it's half the price of the non-original art, so we want to encourage them to bring their art — jewelry, photography, painting, pottery, and the arts and crafts — and help us grow this event."
Food, beverage and artistic vendor applications are available on Facebook at Depot Green—Downtown Muskogee. A schedule of weekly and monthly events at Depot Green also are posted on its Facebook page.
