Published: May 10, 2009 3:00 a.m.
Courtesy photo
The past saw Freimann Family Thursday activities happen on consecutive Thursdays. This year, a bunch of events will happen on one Thursday, June 4.
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Courtesy photo
The past saw Freimann Family Thursday activities happen on consecutive Thursdays. This year, a bunch of events will happen on one Thursday, June 4.
Courtesy photo
The past saw Freimann Family Thursday activities happen on consecutive Thursdays. This year, a bunch of events will happen on one Thursday, June 4.
Courtesy photo
The past saw Freimann Family Thursday activities happen on consecutive Thursdays. This year, a bunch of events will happen on one Thursday, June 4.
This summer is about embracing the new.
You may not know what words and phrases like “busking,” “Gyrotonic Expansion” and “the Marnee Project” mean now.
And I can’t guarantee you’ll have a better handle on things after I have further confused you with my attempts to elucidate.
I am already more confused than I was three sentences ago and I haven’t even begun to really elucidate in earnest yet. But I am not afraid.
Because I trust Courtney Tritch.
Tritch is the marketing and events coordinator for the Downtown Improvement District, and it is her job to act like she’s not frustrated with people like me who need things explained to them over and over again.
DID has a great lineup of summer events, many of which involve arcane phraseology.
First up is Freimann Family Thursday, making its triumphant return from plurality.
This summer, instead of several events happening on successive Thursdays, Freimann Family Thursday will consist of a consolidation of stuff on a single Thursday – June 4 – at Freimann Square.
That’s where the Marnee Project comes in.
The Marnee Project is apparently the name of a band formed by local acoustic music wunderkind Marnee.
At 12, Marnee is already a seasoned vet.
You can chart her climb from adolescent ingénue to adolescent superstar (without spilling a drop of adolescence) on YouTube.
It is a mark of her popularity in these parts that she’s been asked to headline this event, which will also feature the expected kids’ activities and balloon launch.
“What a great role model she is,” Tritch says of Marnee.
Next up is a new event: Lunch on the Square.
It is a midday opportunity on four successive Wednesdays in July to eat lunch while listening to live music at One Summit Square.
Tritch says the DID is working with downtown restaurants to offer boxed lunches for the occasion but not on location.
When I first saw the phrase “Gyrotonic Expansion,” I wanted to make a joke about overeating at Greekfest, but I thought better of it.
This way I can’t lose: People who would have called the joke dumb will thank me, while people who would have liked such a joke will say, “I wish you’d made it. Your column now has a wistful quality that makes you seem more attractive to me somehow.”
“Gyrotonic Expansion” is actually the opposite of overeating.
It is an “exercise modality” that will be presented at Lunch on the Square by Pure Movement Pilates studio.
Exercise modalities are not only designed to make people excited about exercise again, they are designed to make people excited about modalities again.
Another new event, Buskerfest, happens July 31.
The location has yet to be worked out, but Tritch says she expects it to be in and around One Summit Square.
Buskers are street performers. We don’t see a lot of them in downtown Fort Wayne because there usually aren’t enough people milling about downtown to make it worth the buskers’ while.
Not only will Buskerfest feature hip-hop, ballet and clog dancers from Fort Wayne, it will have circus acts from Chicago.
Also, there’ll be a stilt walker who dresses as a giraffe. I’m not sure where she’s from.
Finally, there’s Downtown Mardi Gras on Columbia Street on Aug. 22.
Tritch says she doesn’t have details yet, but use your imagination.
If your imagination is in good working order, Downtown Mardi Gras may be the DID summer event you’ll look forward to the most.