In a debate this spring, candidate for mayor Kevin Johnson called the city's Second Saturday Art Walk "Sacramento's best-kept secret."
Here's what I'm thinking: It's a secret? From whom?
One recent second Saturday, I was standing at the corner of 18th and L, looking at streets absolutely teeming with all kinds of people. There were casual midtowners, nicely dressed suburban types, high school kids, older folks, families, people in ties, people in shorts, all part of a swarming, rolling block party filled with smiling, cheery people.
Not to pick on Johnson's metaphor too much, but that one came from the book of Yogi Berra, the guy who said, "Nobody goes there anymore – it's too crowded."
Second Saturdays are crowded because everyone goes there. These Saturdays have exploded – unpredictably and wonderfully – and they're a treasure, a moving, morphing festival, filled with so many things that Sacramento was and is becoming.
On this Saturday, the area felt like a mix between urbane entertainment district and Disneyland's Main Street. Everyone seemed to be laughing and chatting with whomever happened to be standing next to them.
A group of college kids paraded through the crowd, waving banners and banging drums. They were an African dance class from American River College, and they showed up just because they wanted to. A guy on a motorcycle set up on one corner with a guitar and an amp and sang for a couple of hours. Teachers from an elementary school were selling water bottles for a buck and got so many takers they ran out by 7:30 p.m.
'What city are we in?'
My group of friends went from a clothing store with a DJ to a jewelry store with snacks to a flower shop with music and striking displays to a garage band playing in an actual garage – the Alpha Romeo place on 18th street – to a chocolate store to a stand at 19th and L with free frozen yogurt.
A woman I just met turned to me as we both spooned our chocolate mocha yogurts with sprinkles.
"I didn't know this was so fun," she said, slightly dumbfounded. She was having such fun, she never noticed I dropped yogurt on her shoe.
Across L Street, three young guys were selling T-shirts on the steps of their Victorian house. I bought one, though I still don't know what it says. It's black with cool, blue lettering and may have a picture of a band on it, but I was having too much of a happy time to say no.
The guy who sold me the shirt was maybe 25, tall with a neat Afro.
"I never thought Sacramento could do this," he said.
I agreed. It seemed like such an un-Sacramento night.
"What city are we in?" my friend Brian said after I bought the shirt. (For the record, five minutes later, he wished he'd bought one, too.)
But really, this city, this region, has been crying for nights like this, and this is the ideal place for the Second Saturday parties. There's the weather (usually), the charm of the central city, the impressive art community – more on that in a bit – and, most of all, the deep hunger for the city to be, you know, fun.
That's why the Thursday Night Market on the K Street Mall a few years back was such a hit. It's why Sacramentans have gone so nuts for the Kings, the Olympic Track & Field Trials when they were here, the Pops in the Parks events, and for all the bars, restaurants and clubs in the central city and throughout the region.
This is not a city of stay-at-home stiffs. Maybe it's because people here are used to traveling to find their play, maybe it's the growing number of young adults, maybe is the bunches of transplants from the Bay Area, and maybe it's simply the ease of going out and about in this region.
Success built on artists
The point is, and yes I have one, the big-time success of the Second Saturday Art Walk fits the personality of Sacramento. But there is something more, and this is where the art community deserves a high-five.
On this last walk, I didn't get within 50 yards of an art gallery. (My wife and her friend Jennifer swear they saw one gallery up some steps and through a line of people, but I think they're just bragging.)
Seriously, there are plenty of people who spend time in the galleries on Second Saturdays, and plenty more who plan their evenings specifically to explore the art – helpful hint: start early. And I'm told by enough gallery folk that there are no hard feelings that heathens like me are wandering around eating chocolate, buying T-shirts and listening to bands.
But the truth is, we owe the art community a huge thanks for Second Saturday. The galleries started it, hung in when it wasn't such a big deal, still endure lots of people coming through just for the wine, and put up with not being the star of their own show.
Plus, just calling it an art walk gives the whole night a backbone of class – and I say that both uncynically and as a guy happy to get within shouting distance of class. There's something a little righteous, even inspirational, knowing the art is out there, and that we might stumble onto something moving or riveting, even as we look for free cookies.
In the middle of everything this night, in the courtyard behind the L Wine Lounge, Valley Vision, a nonprofit group working on the health of the region, had displays and was taking a poll on what kinds of things people in Sacramento want more of.
You could endorse things like sports, a river walk, performing arts, family stuff and outdoor recreation. Me, I voted for more art walks.
Call The Bee's Rick Kushman, (916) 321-1187. Listen to him Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK) and 8:50 a.m. on Armstrong & Getty, Talk 650 KSTE.
