Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rogers Rollin’ In To Future
Frisco Fest showcases diversity, local talent
When the 34th annual Frisco Fest kicks off this afternoon, more than 25,000 people will flood the streets of historic downtown Rogers to celebrate the city’s history — especially the day the St. Louis & San Francisco train officially chugged into town in 1881, pulling into the brand new station and breathing life and vibrancy into the downtown area.
“Over the course of the next four years, we’ll be going through an evolution,” says Shey Bland, executive director of Main Street Rogers, the organization that plans and executes Frisco Fest. She says the Walton Family Foundation’s Design Excellence grant — announced in 2017 — will help redesign Frisco Park, giving it and the festival a brand new look by 2020. That evolution starts now. “This year, we’re embracing our artisans and the history of the city. We’re a train city, and we’re redefining how we can be recognizing our history and the changes in our current demographic.”
Bland says the art collective CattyWampus Co-op has helped Frisco Fest curate a juried art show.
“They’re calling it a ‘Catty Carnival’,” says Bland of the show, which features 27 local artists. “They’re all from this area, and they all made what they’re selling.”
Bland says that, over three decades, Frisco Fest has come to mean a lot to the people in Northwest Arkansas, especially Rogers.
“With 30 people [moving] to Northwest Arkansas every day, we have to promote the authenticity of our downtown,” says Bland, who is a Rogers native. “We’re one of the few, if not the only, downtown that has a commercial historic district. We have things in place to protect the historic buildings in this town, and the town wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t had this train passing through here. This is part of who we are, and I feel like this should be the main theme in the Frisco Fest. Embracing more of our local talent is reinforcing that — showing off who we are and what we have here.”
Bland says the changes in the downtown area over the years are highlighted by Frisco Fest.
“Now we have more restaurants, more retail — there’s so much more going on downtown than there was in the 1990s,” she notes. “We want you to see the buildings, see the merchants, and engage.”
In fact, the festival promises to “engage” the five senses. Bland says there are more musical acts and more food offerings than in previous years: more than 20 vendors offering a variety of cuisines and more than a dozen diverse musical acts, including Handmade Moments, Fire Dancers and the Ballet Folklorico.
Bland says the diversity of food and music is deliberate and is meant to echo the diversity in the area.
“We have definitely been marketing for a more diverse clientele,” she says. “We’re trying to be more inclusive: We created radio ads, social media, posters and press releases in Spanish, and we put them up ourselves. We wanted to make sure we hit all the nooks and crannies. We’re making efforts to cultivate and retain local creatives.”