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| Downtown music fest a success |
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| Written by John Saiz / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 22 October 2008 | |
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“All we wanted to do was have something fun for the town.” — Claude Cardenas Emulsified Music Festival organizer Music played, the crowd gathered and people debated the best way to down Jell-O shots at Saturday’s Emulsified Music Festival, a first for Patterson’s downtown. More than a dozen bands played past 10 p.m. on Del Puerto Avenue between El Circulo and Plaza Circle. Crowds swelled to more than 100.  Nadine the Band drummer Andrew Smith, took over the city's streets and revelers parked under the setting sun and rising stars to eat, drink and be merry. Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Blues Café kept the beverages flowing, and Pizza Plus kept the pizza hot. “Getting one band to play out here is more than I’ve seen in 20, 25 years,” said Rick Barron, owner of Blues Café. For the crowd, it was a good afternoon of entertainment. “I didn’t even know this was happening,” one woman said as she arrived at the venue. To attract people to downtown and spark a local music scene, Robin Matteri, the woman behind Blended Events, wanted to have the concert on a downtown street. That meant a lot of work and quick planning. “It was cool,” Matteri said. “My head’s still spinning.” Permission from the Patterson City Council to close the street required numerous hours hashing out the details with city staff, a nice chunk of change and a special council meeting. Matteri isn’t sure if she’ll throw any similar events in the future. She’ll more likely opt for more traditional venues, such as local halls or parks if she does any more, she said.  Mario Valenzuela jams on his electric guitar as Audiorama performs a blend of Spanish rock on the steps of the former Del Puerto Theater. Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Claude Cardenas, who helped organize many of the performers at Saturday’s show, had similar sentiments. “It costs too much, and it’s a hassle,” he said. “Maybe we’ll do it at the teen center.” Organizers were also forbidden from selling anything at the event, so traveling bands couldn’t sell T-shirts and recordings to put cash in their pockets or gas in their vans. “We still kinda did it anyway” he said. While the additional hurdles to host a downtown event have left organizers uncertain of having another one, the crowd had a good time.  Sisters Heather (left) and Julie Stong offer their musicianship and vocal harmony for those in attendance at Saturday night's Emulsified Music Festival. Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Earlier in the day, all types of people stopped by to see what was going on. As the sun started to set, the number of teenagers started to swell. Music dripped into the warm Patterson air as the city’s first downtown music fest went into the books. “All we wanted to do was have something fun for the town,” Cardenas said. Comment on this story at www.pattersonirrigator.com
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The City of Patterson didn't help out these organizers a bit more. Events like these are what help generate $$ for our down town business' and bring $$ from other cities into Patterson. It truely is a shame that the Bands/Artists performing at the event were not aloud to sell merch(IE: t-shirts and cd's) All you have to do is take a look at gas prices and you'll see the difficulty some of these bands have breaking even when traveling an hour + to a venue. Merch sales play a major role in keeping local musicians on the road and doing what they love. It in no way would impeed on Pizza Plus' sales or Blues Cafe's Sales etc. I would understand the ban on bands selling pizza. But they're selling cd's and t-shirts here folks to pay for gas and other band expenses like PA Systems etc. etc. These are the types of events that city officials should be jumping on and lending their full support for. Why not build a sense of community by having more similar events? Patterson's downtown area is dying fast. It has tons of potential and there are a few business owners(mentioned above) who are doing a great job of keeping that area presentable and making their business a staple of the town. However there are a few other business that make that street an absolute eye sore!!! Lets re-vitalize Pattersons down town and bring back the charector that makes it so unique. I think we have Diamond in the rough here. Robin and Claude keep up the hard work guys! Next venue the sports complex? Great parking, insurance already established, room for booths and vendors. How about inviting local business to set up, sell product, and display their support for the community and our youth. Unfortunately if you don't play sports We don't have very many outlets for the younger generation in patterson. Lets not make it difficult for these kids who enjoy the arts to have events to attend. Thats about it in a nutshell
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http://www.lqaf.com/cultural-e...brews-bbq/
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They used a local softball field as the venue. With a stage set up at home plate and the vendors around the outfield fence. The dugouts were used as entrances and exits. report abuse
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