COMMUNITY
JEWFRO
Fine Art Appraisers and Auctioneers — Since 1. 927
By Ben Falik
he Fourth of July means different things
to different people: patriotism, grilled
meats, ramparts, dawnzerly light. What-
ever future Fourths may hold, I will forever
carry a Rosebud-like association with,
affinity for and attachment to that rarest of
institutions, one that showed us the rich-
ness of the past, power of the present and
potential for the future: TasteFest.
After 21 years of filling Detroit's historic
New Center with delectable sights, smells
and sounds, TasteFest, like little Jackie
Paper, did not return last summer — nor
will it be back this year. Yet, like a mosquito
trapped in amber, the DNA of TasteFest
is eerily preserved for posterity on the
Internet.
(Facebook hasn't gotten the memo, so
TasteFest is still "a five-day outdoor food
and entertainment festival in Detroit's New
Center during the Fourth of July weekend,
featuring free live shows from national
performers, great food and more. All
proceeds from food and beverage sales go
toward community development projects
in Detroit')
New Center's own site notes, "So long, Co-
merica Cityfest [a latter-day name change
to which I never subscribed; — Hello, New
Center Park!" But you can still hear a medley
of the '09 performers — ranging from Mike
Posner to Buddy Guy to De La Soul — and
see the lineup on each of the four stages.
More important than the trace evidence
left online, though, is the indelible impact
those two decades of tasting and festing
left on West Grand Boulevard. New Center
is arguably part of the newly branded "Mid-
town" area that is currently the source of so
much energy and optimism in Detroit; New
Center Council and the University Cultural
Center Association recently merged into
Midtown Detroit Inc.
But, as General Motors and the Fisher
brothers intended back in the '20s, it is very
much a city center unto itself. While Saks
Fifth Avenue has been gone for a while now
and GM ironically moved to the RenCen af-
ter pioneering the area north of downtown,
there is a new vitality in New Center that
certainly owes a debt to TasteFest.
My TasteFest experience may have been
a unique one, but I think the festival's cre-
ative, inclusive spirit had a similar effect on
many of the half million people who passed
through and partook each year. I stumbled
upon Tastefest in the midst of a post-colle-
giate existential crisis when then-Director
Randall Fogelman saved me from the mean
streets of Bloomfield Township by taking
me in as the manager of volunteers.
The three years I spent with TasteFest
were notable less for the sweet treats and
tunes than for the extraordinary people
who gravitated to Grand Boulevard. Video I
shot there in '05 sums up the personality of
the event perfectly through the volunteers,
carnies, performers and festival-goers from
all walks of life who took a moment to help
me wish my wife a happy first anniversary.
And perhaps no moment captured
TasteFest's harmony and diversity better
than Isaac Hayes' concert, where half the au-
dience was there to see Shaft and the other
to see Chef.
I don't mourn TasteFest's passing as much
as I celebrate its life and legacy. Over two
decades riddled with trials and tribulations,
TasteFest laid the groundwork for what is
becoming a truly dynamic city neighbor-
hood where people live, work and play
all year round. And there's still music and
food. New Center Park (newcenterpark.
com ), a vibrant, verdant space right on the
"Boulevard," has concerts all summer. More
and more, you can come to hear — and
contribute to — the rhythmic, everyday
music of urban life. ,_
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IMAGE, "GOOD MORNING CITY":
AUSTRIAN 1928-20
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FIGURES, 19TH CENTURY,
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EDITH B. PARSONS (1878-1956), BRONZE BOOKENDS,
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ZANOTTA LEATHER & STAINLESS STEEL
BAR STOOLS, SIX, H 41", W 18"
409 E. JEFFERc,o\, DETRon- , MI 48226
TEL 313.963.6255 www.I )UMOARTA om
8 July 2011 I
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www.redthreadmagazine.com