Storefront Art Crawl Will Feature Talented Work From 13 Different Artists

STREET TALK
By Mickey Howley
WVMSA Director

It is three weeks to Thanksgiving and it is going to be different this year, well, for many reasons. Many people are forsaking larger family gatherings. That’s just prudent. Nonetheless people are going to eat and that means preparing food. Or buying prepared food, which I’d like to suggest.
One of the things that has really changed on this Main Street in the last decade is the number of restaurants. There are simply more restaurants and that greater variety of places to dine has been a good thing. More options and better possibilities has meant a lot, as places are universally judged by the quality of the meals one can buy.
That increase in number, and with expansions by restaurants older than a decade, has been a big plus for downtown and the town in general. Let’s not underestimate that and also let’s not underestimate the effort it takes to work and run a restaurant.
The restaurant business in normal times, I’m talking about, it is a hard business to be in.  The last nine months counting, by the time we get to Thanksgiving, have not been normal for all of us. For your downtown restaurants and the people who work in them, that has been especially so. To say it has been very difficult would be an understatement.
Many of the restaurants run Thanksgiving specials, you know some aspect for the big meal cooked so busy home chefs don’t have to think of everything. This year I’d like you to consider buying a dish or two for your Thanksgiving, not matter how small it will be, from one or more of Water Valley’s restaurants. It would mean much and it would be a thankful solution for all.
Different this year also is the Art Crawl. The last decade of this event, as the name suggests, meant going from one place to another via walking or “crawling.” This movement around town was all in the open air and even now open air and not jammed together activities are relatively safe. But if you have been to prior art crawls, you know the art places themselves, meaning the studios and galleries, were tightly packed with people. That is not possible this year.
What is possible is a solo walk downtown looking at storefront windows, so the Art Crawl this year will be installations and displays in 10 different storefront windows. All the locations are on Main Street and the event will be up for two weeks. The dates are from November 9 to the 23. A total of 13 local artists are participating.