Time to Restore Wichita Falls Artwalks

I usually steer clear of any criticism of Wichita Falls in my articles, unless it's about the way people drive here. I swear, half this city needs to go back to driver's ed. But there's an issue I feel needs a little discussion.

I recently posted the video at the bottom of this article on my personal Facebook page, and it got a lot of attention. It's basically a highlight video featuring little snippets of what the Artwalk used to be like from 2016 to 2019. A ton of people reached out to me to express how much they miss the way the artwalk used to be. They all want to restore the artwalk to it's former glory.

City of Wichita Falls/Canva

Time to Restore Wichita Falls Artwalks

So what happened? What's different?

The first problem I see is that very little art is being sold on the sidewalks now, in comparison to the number of people who are just selling crap from eBay. It's turned into one big flea market. There's no need to be selling knock-off Labubu dolls at an artwalk. We need to get back to hand-crafted jewelry, homemade soaps, paintings, and other artistic endeavors. It's literally called the ARTwalk, not the garage sale walk.

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The second problem I've been noticing is the number of teenage boys roaming around in groups, causing problems. Why are they at an artwalk? Go do something else, nerds. We adults want a chill day listening to music and looking at art. I don't know, maybe put some of that energy into finding a girlfriend instead of bothering us with your broccoli haircuts and your skibidi toilet nonsense.

The third problem I've noticed is the volume of the music coming from The Yard. The Yard sits on the corner of 7th and Ohio, right by the World's Tiniest Skyscraper. Across the street to its North is La Salle Crossing Apartments, and across the street to the West is the Holt Hotel Apartments. Here's a satellite view:

Google Earth/Canva

Musicians used to set up along Ohio and 7th Street to perform acoustic guitar music or play the piano, and so on. But ever since the new ownership took over The Yard, that is no longer possible. Why? They hire a DJ for the art walk and blast music so loud that it's impossible to hear anyone else outside for three blocks in either direction. That's basically half of the area the artwalk takes place in. It is SO obnoxious.

And what sucks is, I like the music they play. Hip-hop is my absolute favorite. But it's a DJ playing music we can all hear on our phones, not local artists sharing their gifts. I love what Anthony Campos and Rob Comello do over there at The Lab. They have DJs playing INSIDE. So that way, someone like me who loves hip-hop can pop inside and enjoy the likes of DJ Mayde Day, whereas your grandparents can stay outside and avoid clutching their pearls because they don't appreciate the beats.

City of Wichita Falls/Canva

So that's my two cents on how we can restore the After Hours Artwalk to its former glory. Well, I guess I didn't offer any solutions, but I'm better at bitching about problems than fixing them; smarter people than me can do that. I hope everyone takes this piece as it is intended. I really just want the magic back. It's still fun, don't get me wrong. But those of us who have been attending since the beginning know it can be awesome again!