A year ago on May 8, 2010 a bunch of committed people kicked off the first 2nd Saturdays Downtown, and what a huge success that was. And almost every one since then has been fantastic.

The next huge urban street fest is set for next Saturday May 14 (on Congress Street, between the Fox Tucson Theatre and the Hotel Congress).

And here’s the list of the hard working Steering Committee members from their website:

Luke Cusack, Congress Street Clubs
Beth Dell, Beowulf Alley Theatre
Donovan Durband, Ward VI Office
John Flanagan, Flanagan’s Celtic Corner
Nicole Flowers, 47 Scott
Michael Keith, Downtown Tucson Partnership
Danielle Leines, Strongpoint PR
Jamie Manser, Zocalo Tucson Magazine
Fletcher McCusker, Providence Service Corp.
Erika O’Dowd, Cinema La Placita
David Olsen, Zocalo Tucson Magazine
Randy Petersen, KXCI
Julie Ray, Julie Ray Creative
Mia Schnaible, Screening Room
Monica Surfaro Spigelman, Tucson Cowgirl Communications
David Slutes, Hotel Congress

It has continued every 2nd Saturday since, except for January 8, 2011 for obvious reasons when most events were canceled due to the Tucson mass shooting. (And I think I’ve been to every one except perhaps for July, 2010).

Log onto to their website, www.2ndsaturdaysdowntown.com. The May 14 event schedule is online, plus photos of past 2nd Saturdays Downtown happenings.

Cinema La Placita will be showing the Walt Disney children’s film “Fantasia” on the large empty wall on Congress Street (between Scott Avenue and Stone Avenue).

And mark your calendars for the upcoming 2nd Saturdays Downtown in 2011:

June 11
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10

Thank you to all the steering committee members for all the hard work to keep this popular urban street fest going for a whole year. And what a lot of fun it has been for 12 months!

And here’s the photo gallery of the May 8, 2010 very first successful 2nd Saturdays Downtown (click here.)

Jamie O’Brien was playing his uplifting Irish music at One North Fifth (with Sharon Goldwasser on violin & mandolin), then I rambled over to the lovely Fox Tucson Theatre to hear the renowned Portland Cello Project (five cello musicians) on stage with a drummer. They played a haunting “Godfather Theme” in the first hour and even a rousing singalong “Hey ya”, followed by several lively songs with Weinland (a vocal guitarist).

Then I ran into fellow TC.com blogger Charles Spillar (“Artistic Tucson”) and we set off to explore two fabulous L.A. themed bars– Sapphire Lounge (rooftop bar, with several floors of ultra elegant dance/lounge areas) at 61 E. Congress, then Zen Rock, an equally elegant dance/lounge with a basement at 121 E. Congress. Wow, neither of us could believe these two high scale bars existed on Congress Street.

Then we checked out “Catacoustic Groove” a men’s cappella rock/soul/R & B group of six fellows including Dr. Bruce Bayly, an old friend of mine. They were drawing a large crowd at the Ronstadt Transit Center.

Also happening: a rock sound stage on Scott Avenue with The Modeens, The Mission Creeps, and Greyhound Soul, and nearby the Tucson Circus Arts with people on stilts, who teach juggling, clowning & taiko drumming. A local pie maker (Big Skye) sold me a delicious strawberry/rhubard pie. It seems street musicians were everywhere, along with mimes/human statues with grey faces & costumes, and a good mix of food and craft vendors. Most of the restaurants on E. Congress were open and doing good business as well. Stefan George was performing over at the Hotel Congress for free.

Cinema La Placita showed Beatles’ movies on a large screen projected on the wall of the large empty lot on E. Congress between Scott and Stone, and Ultimate Electronics encouraged youth to participate in karaoke/musical instrument participatory singalongs, also Beatles’ music. I loved hearing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” again. Cinema La Placita organizer Erika O’Dowd was passing out flyers for their upcoming Beatles movie on May 13, “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Need I say more? It was a fantastic “Urban Street Fest.” Kudos to former TC.com blogger Donovan Durband and his new boss Ward 6 Councilmember Steve Kozachik who apparently had a big hand in pulling this event together. Both men were present as well, enjoying themselves.

And as Everett, the guy with a humorous “Free advice for 5 cents” stand on the corner of Congress/6th Avenue said “my advice is to come back” for another 2nd Saturday. I recommend we all take his advice.

The second 2nd Saturdays Downtown is slated for June 12. Don’t miss it.

5/9/10 UPDATE: Photo gallery of shots taken by Donovan click here.

My husband located his on the Northeast panel and I found mine last night on Southwest panel 1, as all 4 panels are now up on the walls. We were excited to finally locate our portraits amongst the thousands of other tile portraits.

Check it out at www.tucsonportraitproject.com. The photographer was Darren Clark and the concept was created by Gary Patch.

I blogged about this project on August 21, after Tucson’s Birthday Celebration in 2009, but only one panel (the Northwest one) was up at that time. Click here to read my original blog, with details on how to locate your face.

What a great sense of community we felt by being amongst 7,000 other Tucsonans.

Note: Here’s a partial list of some faces I recognized:
NE panel – Randy Accetta, Michael Carson, Al Classen,Tim Keene, Phil Lopes, CT Revere, Ruben Reyes, Regina Romero, Ken Scoville, Chris Tanz;

NW panel – Donna Branch-Gilby, Michael Patrick Brewer, Michael Bryan, Gail Cordy, Albert Elias, Gene Einfrank, Julia Fonseca, Bud Foster, Joyce Gee, Jim Glock, Nancy Janetta, Roslyn Miller, Ron Spark, Karin Uhlich;

SW 1 panel – Laura Burge, Roger Carrillo, Pat de Vito, Carmen Dolny, Rodney Glassman, Maurice Grossman, Jim Hannley, Gary Low, Pancho Medina, Monique Martin, Jim Nintzel, Tom Prezelski;

and SW 2 panel – Katie Bolger, Raul Grijalva, Sat Bir Khalsa, Erika O’Dowd, Alan Leibensperger, Diana Rhodes, Shirley Scott, Nina Trasoff, Robert Walkup.