Downtown Duet

Almost every Tulsan is well acquainted with Mayfest, a beloved tradition that is celebrating its 40th year of artistic fun in 2012. More and more locals are also catching on to the Blue Dome Arts Festival, the new kid on the block at just nine years old. But nine years isn't nothin'. It's becoming a Tulsa staple in its own right. So what's the plan for this year's events? Are these downtown art parties BFFs? (best friends forever) or frenemies with friction? Will the two ever unite to create one giant super-festival?

The Seasoned Professional

This year Mayfest will be held May 17-20 on Main St. between 3rd and 6th Sts. Executive Director Heather Pingry could not be more excited about the 40th anniversary celebration. "We're really thankful to the community for celebrating with us and supporting us all these years," she said. While they always try to do something a little different, this year will be extra special.

"Our biggest, newest exciting thing that we're doing is called a 3-D 'Muve' Music Wonderwall," Pingry said. Sponsored by Cricket and produced by Tulsa's own GuRuStu Group, this spectacle will take over the north wall of the 320 S. Boston building. "We're going to be transforming that whole wall into a 3-D art program at night. It will be in between the bands that are on the main stage."

It's definitely something you don't want to miss.

Along with the hopeful disappearance of the notorious Mayfest downpours, there will be other differences this year as well. "We're going to have three headline acts. Normally we just have one," Pingry said. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Hayes Carll and J.D. McPherson will share that honor. "We're also going to have a gallery in the P.A.C. the entire month of May, called Vintage Mayfest Gallery," she said. It will feature posters, photos, flyers and more from the last 39 years of the event.

What Mayfest is most known for is the art.

Almost every Tulsan is well acquainted with Mayfest, a beloved tradition that is celebrating its 40th year of artistic fun in 2012. More and more locals are also catching on to the Blue Dome Arts Festival, the new kid on the block at just nine years old. But nine years isn't nothin'. It's becoming a Tulsa staple in its own right. So what's the plan for this year's events? Are these downtown art parties BFFs? (best friends forever) or frenemies with friction? Will the two ever unite to create one giant super-festival?

The Seasoned Professional

This year Mayfest will be held May 17-20 on Main St. between 3rd and 6th Sts. Executive Director Heather Pingry could not be more excited about the 40th anniversary celebration. "We're really thankful to the community for celebrating with us and supporting us all these years," she said. While they always try to do something a little different, this year will be extra special.

"Our biggest, newest exciting thing that we're doing is called a 3-D 'Muve' Music Wonderwall," Pingry said. Sponsored by Cricket and produced by Tulsa's own GuRuStu Group, this spectacle will take over the north wall of the 320 S. Boston building. "We're going to be transforming that whole wall into a 3-D art program at night. It will be in between the bands that are on the main stage."

It's definitely something you don't want to miss.

Along with the hopeful disappearance of the notorious Mayfest downpours, there will be other differences this year as well. "We're going to have three headline acts. ... Normally we just have one," Pingry said. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Hayes Carll and J.D. McPherson will share that honor. "We're also going to have a gallery in the P.A.C. the entire month of May, called Vintage Mayfest Gallery," she said. It will feature posters, photos, flyers and more from the last 39 years of the event.

What Mayfest is most known for is the art. Outside along Main St. there are usually about 120 visual artists. A few of them are from Tulsa, of course, but the rest come from all over the U.S. If you've ever been to the festival, you know the variety of art featured is astounding. With everything from large-scale paintings to pottery and jewelry, no participant will leave empty handed. "I have never not bought a piece of art at Mayfest," Pingry said. "I find something I like every year, whether it's something for me personally or something for my home or a gift for somebody."

She said about 100 of the 120 artists outside are fine artists, some of whom have paintings that start at $3,000. In order to please everyone, they also have a market area, which is "more affordable and sometimes more focused on craft." If you just want to spend $10 that can easily be done.

Head inside if you want to see what the locals are made of. "Throughout all of our indoor galleries, we have about 800 individual pieces created by just local artists. We've got five indoor galleries and we limit that to be local artists only," she said.

If you want to check out "the most exciting artist involved this year," look no further than the Mayfest poster. Tulsa native Otto Duecker, a highly respected realist painter, created the poster art for 2012. "He's internationally renowned. ... Everything he does is so incredibly detailed that you actually usually think it is a photograph," Pingry said.

For some people, it's not the vast array of visual art that draws them to Mayfest; it's the performers. Along with the popular acts featured every evening, there are all kinds of entertainers taking the stage during the day. "We have our Community Stage that's been going on for many years," she said. "Sunday afternoon our whole main stage area is community acts. We have community acts at 4th and Boston throughout the festival as well.

"We have a total of four stages, actually. We have our main stage on the green, a smaller stage at 4th and Boston, the Bartlett Square Stage and then we have a KidZone Stage." Throughout the four-day festival, there will be over 75 performances and every single one of them is free. Whether you love rock, gospel, country or R&B, they've got you covered. There's a little bit of everything, even belly dancers and drummers.

KidZone will be located at H.A. Chapman Centennial Green, taking up that whole park on 6th between Main and Boston. There you will find family friendly entertainment and high quality acts thanks to the Tulsa Children's Museum and the Walton Family Foundation. Over the last several years, KidZone has become a huge part of the festival, where youngsters enjoy hands-on art activities and much more.

"We have the children's hospital at St. Francis come Saturday and do a 'bear clinic.' Kids get a little teddy bear; it's white and you get to color it and decorate it," Pingry said. Then the bear gets a check up. "It's designed to sort of alleviate any fears that kids may have about doctors and hospitals." Plus, they get to keep the bear.

Another fun activity at KidZone is digging for fossils, brought to Mayfest by the Tulsa Geoscience Center. Kids get to take their favorite fossil home, which made the dig a huge hit last year.

Children of all ages can find something to enjoy in this area of the festival. The youngest ones get a kick out of the bubble machine. There are also little art stations, chalkboards to color on and sidewalk chalk. On Saturday there are activities on the lawn -- games to get kids moving. "KidZone is the place to be," Pingry said. "Everybody's so happy and engaged and having a good time."

It has undoubtedly contributed to the Mayfest's success, but the biggest contribution has been the support of their sponsors, especially the presenting sponsor, MidFirst Bank. According to Pingry, "This is their ninth year as presenting sponsor and that's almost unheard of." She said without their long-term sponsors Mayfest would no longer be free, but the fact that it's free is a big reason so many people participate.

"We started getting a lot of questions after the economy went south in 2008 [about] how it would affect us. It actually increased our attendance because we're free," she said. Their artists still have no problem selling their work either. "I've had several artists tell me that even on a bad year they sell $10,000-12,000 worth over four days." Even when the economy is bad Tulsans still support Mayfest.

Their many volunteers are also vital. Pingry is the only full-time paid staff at Mayfest. Volunteers like Festival Chair Mary Jo Sartain work really hard throughout the year to make the event happen. Their steering committee members also work year-round, each focusing on their specific area. During the festival there are about 800 volunteers.

"People who have never been here and haven't heard of Tulsa are really surprised at [the] arts focused community we have," Pingry said. "So, it's just community support, sponsor support and volunteerism that's kept it going."

If you want to get involved this year it's not too late. Volunteers can help many ways: Selling merchandise, doing artist relief, being a gallery assistant or serving beer, for example. If interested, see the volunteer form on their website, tulsamayfest.org.

No matter how you get involved, Mayfest exposes you to arts you probably wouldn't otherwise see. "It's really accessible. You can come to Mayfest and not spend a dime and let your kids do things for free and take home things that they've created. Or you can come to Mayfest and spend a lot of money and buy some art to take home with you and food and drink, but enjoy free concerts," she said.

Pingry feels very lucky to have a job she loves so much. "I work with an incredible group of people, first of all, that take vacation time to help put this festival on and give up time with their family to spend time here working on Mayfest. And not just during the four days, but leading up to it too," she said.

She feels like she's giving something to the community. "You're giving this big celebration and letting Tulsans come together and enjoy it," she said. "It's incredible to see it all come together. ... It just makes me so happy to see people enjoying the art. I grew up in this area, so I have good memories of coming to Mayfest."

Don't we all?

Too Legit to Quit

The Blue Dome Arts Festival is held the same weekend as Mayfest, but starts on Friday instead of Thursday. From May 18-20 head over to the Blue Dome District, 2nd and Elgin, for some serious fun.

"It will begin at Dwelling Spaces and Yokozuna and it will go down Detroit to Lee's Bicycles at Frankfurt. And it will also go south past the Dust Bowl," said Michael Sager, the Chairman of the festival. "We're only going to have one stage and that will be basically at the Blue Dome, right in the epicenter of it all."

According to Sager, known affectionately as "The Blue Dome Guy," 2012 marks the ninth annual Blue Dome Arts Festival. Nine years ago, with an office in the district, some local artists approached him with the idea. They had grown out of the little weekend event they hosted at Virginia Harrison's house. When they asked, "Could you support an art festival?" he said, "Absolutely."

"So that one little 'absolutely' has gotten us nine years down the road," he explained.

With about 225 artists presenting, this is the largest year yet for the growing festival. And just like at Mayfest, the Blue Dome Festival truly has something for everybody. "We've got the art car group out at Brady, [which] has a huge presence on Saturday. ... We've got entertainment in the street: local performers, local musicians and groups that you would know. We've got some food, and basically we have a good time," Sager said.

He's very proud of and excited about the fact that the event is dog friendly. "It's a big deal. We're actually going to have a dog parade," in addition to the art car parade, he said. It's something he's wanted to do for a long time. "We're very organic here. We're very natural," he continued. While they certainly put a lot of effort into the planning of the event, they don't over think it. And if they get an idea to do something, they tend to make it happen.

Festival Administrator Renji Shanker led the planning in 2012. "Without Renji I couldn't have done it this year. She has become the mastermind of the festival," Sager said. She helped select the wide variety of artists and entertainment, along with Eric Gomez and Chris Armstrong, the Music Production Managers of the festival.

One of the first artists Shanker mentioned they booked was Gast Blaskapelle, a huge German-American band consisting of about 25-30 people. They will also have three different belly dancing groups (one on each night), henna booths and an artist who will be making sculptures of customers' hands. Shanker talked about another artist who will be doing live spray painting, performing to music while everyone watches him work.

As far as live music goes, several local favorites will be performing, including Scott Aycock, Sam and the Stylees, and the Electric Rag Band. "We have just picked Tulsa recording artist Kinsey Seidler: Local and now recording in Nashville and trending on the radio," Sager said, adding that they are "very lucky to have her stop at Blue Dome." As if that weren't enough, to start the festival local fire marshals will sing a cappella. How's that for a kickoff?

There will be no lack of vendors either. "We've got some vendors that have been here every year" -- everything from wood sculptors to bowl sculptors, photographers, painters, soap makers, Sager said. "There's jewelry, glass, recycled items. ..." The list goes on and on. What's true at Mayfest is also true at the Blue Dome Festival: "There's all kinds of things here. There's something for everybody."

"We have about 100 new vendors this year" and "about 40 on the waiting list," they said. They've already had to extend the layout once and if they let the festival keep growing, they're going to have to do it again. About two weeks away from this year's event, they were still receiving applications. "We want to accommodate everybody, but we don't have the space on the ground to do that," Shanker said.

Make no mistake: Blue Dome Arts Festival is not a Mayfest rip-off. While they may sound a lot alike, the difference is in the details. For example, Sager said, "We don't run late. We're basically a sunrise to sunset festival instead of a late night festival." Between the two festivals they "balance and cover everything.

"We are a non-juried festival. And I'm really proud of the fact that we've got artists that are here today that came at 15 or 16 and brought some sketches and paintings, were scared to death and never sold a thing in their life." They got to participate at the Blue Dome Festival and started selling their work for maybe $30-50, "became motivated and went on and produce a lot of art today." Inspired by that, they encourage young, inexperienced artists to submit their work.

With the booth spaces costing just $75 for three days, it's easy to see why everyone is knocking on their door. "I don't want to say it's about the little guy because we have some very significant people here, but we're broad in our willingness to look at our artists," Sager said. "I think Mayfest needs to be juried, which they are. You've got to go through an approval process." He and Shanker look at every application, rejecting only the art that doesn't "fit" the festival. Every year those boundaries stretch a little bit and, while some people are very precise about how they define art, they want to have a broad acceptance of it.

"I think there's an outcry of small artists to have a venue," he said. The Blue Dome Festival is one way to give a bit of a boost to artists just starting out, especially because not everyone is going to want to be involved every year. "Small artists' production is cyclical. They may go very active for two or three years then they may taper off for a while just because of life circumstances," he said. The cool thing is many of those artists come back to help, even when they don't have a booth, simply because they love being there.

While they could use more volunteers, they said the people in the neighborhood help run the event. "My original design of this festival -- it was about the community; it was also about the people that were here 365 days a year," Sager said. "So in the Blue Dome Festival, if you are a merchant on the street, you automatically get a free booth because we're impacting your store. We're crowding the streets up and it might not be to your benefit, so you get to participate for free, but in that also you get to voice your opinions.

"We kind of believe that all of the people in the neighborhood are volunteering in one sense or another, even though they're not on a committee. They're helping police their area, they're helping meet the customers, they're helping provide food and services to all the people who are here."

If you're interested in volunteering at the Blue Dome Arts Festival, send an email to bluedomefestival@gmail.com or contact them on their Facebook page: facebook.com/bluedomefest.

Two Become One?

With two great festivals happening on the same weekend in downtown Tulsa, why keep them separate? Wouldn't it make sense to turn it into one big event?

Not really.

Keep in mind that they are by no means identical. The Blue Dome Festival chose the same weekend as Mayfest because of the commonalities, namely that they are both a celebration of local artists, of people that live in Oklahoma. Some artists have indeed shown at both festivals. But that doesn't change the fact that they each have a different look, feel and purpose.

"The great thing about MayFest and Blue Dome Arts Festival is that they both celebrate arts and the artists. The two festivals are like marinara and fresh salsa; they have the same ingredients but have two different flavors. Both are satisfying and powerful on their own but would not blend well," Sager said.

Pingry agreed. "I don't think that the two will combine. They're such unique, complimentary festivals. I think by combining them, they would each lose their identities."

Sager believes the differences outweigh the similarities. "Mayfest has a 40 years tradition and history whilst the Blue Dome Arts Festival is a neighborhood festival hosted by the unique restaurants, shops and energetic people who are committed to make a difference in the Blue Dome District ... We're a fun festival about the community and we think it is complimentary to Mayfest.

"What a great weekend it is in Tulsa with two arts festivals just a few blocks apart!" he said. It's a weekend most Tulsans are looking forward to, that's for sure.