Dancing to Art of Noise at the 2017 2nd Street Festival (Photo by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)
The 2nd Street Festival started as a one-time thing. It’s now a Richmond tradition.
“The festival began as a celebration that followed the release of a film done by the Valentine museum on the history of Second Street,” says Mavis Wynn, the event operations manager for Venture Richmond, which manages the fest. “It was one block, one night. Now it’s four blocks and two days.”
Marking its 30th anniversary this year, the annual Jackson Ward-area jamboree pays tribute to the Second Street corridor from Broad to Jackson streets — “The Deuce” — a crucial part of why this neighborhood was hailed as “the Harlem of the South.” Held on the first weekend in October, the African-American-centered celebration boasts musical performers, dance showcases, gospel choirs, food and merchandise vendors, and a whole lot of happy people in the streets greeting each other with loud, joyous squeals.
“That’s what I hear throughout the festival,” says Venture Richmond’s event and booking manager, Sharon Bassard.
For Venture Richmond events, proper planning is essential; 2nd Street happens one week before the massive three-day Richmond Folk Festival, which the nonprofit also manages. “It’s really crunch time,” Bassard says. “We call it the 10-day marathon.”
The Jackson Ward festival is not your typical event either. “There’s quite a few things that we have to do that other festivals don’t have to do,” Wynn says. “Jackson Ward is a mixed-use area, you’ve got business and you’ve got residential. It presents special challenges.”
Wynn has been working on and overseeing the 2nd Street Festival for 20 years. When it comes to planning and organizing, she and Bassard (an 18-year veteran) have pretty much been the show these past few years. “We’ve done it several ways,” she says. “We’ve had a committee of community people, and we’ve also just done it in-house, between us.”
Planning starts in January, with the booking of headlining bands. “That’s when we talk about main-stage performers,” Bassard says. “Typically, we don’t have a set number of performers each year, but we know we have to get main headliners on Saturday and Sunday.”
Debo Dabney at the 2017 2nd Street Festival (Photo by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)
Importantly, January is also when Venture Richmond starts scouting for sponsors.
By May, or earlier, city permits and tent permits are filed. Among the items considered: What streets will need to be closed, how many city-issued supercans are needed, and how many police officers should be there?
This is also the time that the artist for the festival poster is considered, and festival vendors are lined up, Wynn says, adding that she can’t accept all of the vendors that apply online at the Venture Richmond website. “I let the vendors from the previous year have first refusal, and if someone drops out, I have a waiting list I can call on.”
Despite the demand, food vendors have decreased in recent years from approximately 12 down to nine, and there are also fewer merchandise vendors (15). This is a problem for the festival, but not for the beautification of the area. “We’ve decreased because the trees in the neighborhood that were planted years ago are now full and limbed, and I can’t get tents where I used to be able to get tents,” Wynn says.
Summer is also when a security plan is formed, and parking is considered — the latter being the biggest hassle, mainly because (unlike many other festivals) there is a tradition of providing free parking options for the 20,000 to 30,000 who attend the event. Plus, parking passes are provided for resident and business owners within the street closure. Thankfully, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority donates a big lot bordering First, Second, Jackson and Duvall streets to help handle the load.
In early September, Venture hosts a meeting at Mama J’s event space where business owners and residents are informed of the plans. This is also when Venture does its neighborhood walk-through. “We’ll walk the site, note any branches down, maybe a hole in the street here, sidewalk repair here, and we’ll go to the city and ask when this will be finished or when will that get done,” Wynn says. “We kind of do a visual, and then we start pleading for any help we need.”
Eighteen Richmond police officers assist with security, and RMC Events, an area staffing service, has coordinators on the ground. There are also helpers from the Department of Public Works and Emergency Management Services, which establishes a mobile command unit on the grounds.
And then there are the “fellas” of the 2nd Street Festival. “They come out early Friday morning and hang the welcome banner that goes across the street. They attach signs,” Wynn says of these contracted specialists. “During the festival, they help with directing people and troubleshoot. They are invaluable.”
During the festival, Bassard and Wynn are busy monitoring the grounds to make sure that no unauthorized entrepreneurs set up shop within the grounds. “Some people think that they can come down and just set up,” Bassard says.
When the event is over on Sunday evening, tents are collapsed and the city’s Department of Public Works springs into action. “By 10:30, the streets are reopened, sidewalks and streets are clean,” Wynn says. “And on Monday morning, you’ll never know there were 30,000 people in your neighborhood. That goes back to what I was told when I first started doing this: You have to leave the place better than the way you found it.”
For more on the 2nd Street Festival, go to venturerichmond.com/events/venture/secondstreet.html.
