Art Design & Dine adds a creative jolt to downtown Cheyenne

The Art Design & Dine Art Tour happens tomorrow evening, Thursday, July 14, 5-8 p.m., in Cheyenne.

During this very fine local event, art venues open their doors to anyone interested in browsing and possibly buying art in a friendly atmosphere.

Participating galleries:

Participating food venues include Suite 1901, the Laramie County Public Library Cafe and Ruby Juice.

AD&D is two years old now and getting better all the time. Some great shows for July, including:

Clay Paper Scissors presents watercolors, prints, two kinds each of ceramics and tote bags! This show features Amy Misle, Amy Iribarren, Kandice Starbuck, K.K. Hamblin, Meggan Stordahl and Steve Schrepferman!

This month will feature live music and literature at two locations:

The Fiddlers on the Range (the Bob Mathews family fiddlers) will be at DeSelms Fine Art from 6-7:30 p.m and local writer Mike Shay (that's me) and will be at Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio from 5-6 p.m. I will read excerpts from my work. I rehearsed with my ukelele accompanist Linda Coatney Tuesday night but, on Wednesday, she was called out of town on a family emergency. She will be replaced with a hologram.

It's a little unusual to stage a reading in a locale where everyone is coming and going. But I will come up with something appropriate.

Thanks to the Cheyenne Arts Council for providing the entertainment. More performances will enliven future AD&D events. AD&D provides another jolt of energy and creativity to downtown Cheyenne. The Lights On! Project is providing another needed jolt to downtown, so is the new construction. And a big welcome to the Morris House Bistro and its Carolina Low County Cuisine. Can't have enough innovative eateries in the downtown area.

Don't forget that the Cheyenne Old-Fashioned Summer Melodrama launches its 2011 season Thursday night. My wife Chris and I will be volunteering at the Atlas Theatre. Come on down, buy a ticket and prepare to be interactively entertained. We have beer too!

Some dirty deeds going on at the Depot this summer in Cheyenne

This summer’s melodrama is Dirty Deeds at the Depot
Directed by Barb Jalonen
At the Historic Atlas Theatre in downtown Cheyenne
July 14-17, 2011 @ 7:00pm
(Frontier Days) July 21-23, 25-30 2011 @ 7:00pm & 9:00pm, July 24 & 31, 2011 @ 7:00pm
August 4-7, 2011 @ 7:00pm

(NOTE: CLTP is not having matinee performances of the Old Fashioned Melodrama this season.)

Cheyenne Little Theatre presents the 55th Annual Old-Fashioned Melodrama with Dirty Deeds at the Depot. Return to the glory days of the Depot with our heroine, Lacie Camisole, the dastardly Professor Thaddeus Mack and the kind station master, Justin Tyme.

Volunteers needed. Sign up at http://www.cheyennelittletheatre.org/volunteer_form.aspx. It's fun! Take it from me and my wife -- we've spent many cool nights at the Atlas making popcorn and slinging beers. Our kids too  (not the beer part).

Produced in cooperation with www.heroandvillian.com

Depot design is my choice for the new logo of the Laramie County Democrats

I voted for this design as the new logo for the Laramie County Democratic Party. It evokes Cheyenne's early days as a railroad hub. All those railroad workers and passengers trooping through the depot when it was a train depot. The sounds of chugging engines and late-night train whistles. Many people connected with building the railroad and the depot went on to live and work in Cheyenne. The entire southern Wyoming railroad corridor spawned settlements that were bastions of Democrats who started unions for rail workers and miners. Fifty years ago in places like Rock Springs, it was as difficult to find a Republican as it was in Casper to find a Democrat. As lifelong Democratic Party activist Kathy Karpan once told me about growing up in Rock Springs: "I didn't know there was a Republican Party."

The Historic Train Depot is now an anchor of downtown Cheyenne. It was saved from destruction by local activists and funding from the Wyoming State Legislature. It features a railroad museum, gift shop and city offices. The lobby rings with the sounds of music, the chatter of vendors during the winter farmers' markets, echoes of children's feet as they troop through on school tours. The Shadows brew pub occupies the eastern end of the building. During the short summers, the plaza is always busy with concerts, two farmers' markets (Tuesdays and Saturdays), chili cook-offs, plein air painting competitions, etc. It has added life to downtown. It engenders "creative placemaking."

I like the other two proposed logo designs. You can see them at the Laramie County Democrats' web page. Each vote is $1. I voted five times, which is four times more than I get to vote at my precinct. This is an occasion when I can say, "Vote early, vote often."

Laramie Main Street and Sweet Melissa's team up for "Taste of the Town" June 13

Sweet Melissa's, downtown Laramie

My favorite place to eat in Laramie is Sweet Melissa's Vegetarian Cafe. The place admits omnivores like me, even carnivores (wolves must be accompanied by a consenting vegan). We sometimes pile in the car and drive over the hill so that my daughter can eat at one of the only veggie places in the state. The food is great. I am especially fond of the lentil loaf and the desserts. The bar next door offers meatless craft beers.

A special event on tap for Melissa's on Monday. Here are the details:

Laramie Main Street is excited to collaborate with the popular Sweet Melissa’s Vegetarian Café for our June Taste of the Town. Join us Monday, June 13 from 4 to 9 p.m. to meet new friends, remember how good vegetables taste and raise funds for downtown revitalization projects.

Sweet Melissa’s has been serving comfort food for the homesick vegetarian since 1999. It quickly became one of downtown’s most popular establishments, attracting both locals and tourists for good, quality meals.

For the skeptical carnivores, we recommend the lentil loaf, grilled portabello or falafel sandwich. For those looking for variety, Sweet Melissa’s serves several American, Italian, Greek, Indian and Mexican dishes. For dessert, don’t skip the fried banana break, chocolate or carrot cake.

Taste of the Town is a fundraiser for Laramie Main Street designed to highlight unique, local restaurants in the downtown district. 10% of the sales benefit LMS, a non-profit that works to preserve historic Downtown Laramie while enhancing its economic and social vitality.

Sweet Melissa’s is located at 213 South 1st Street. For more information, contact Laramie Main Street at 307-742-2212 or Sweet Melissa’s at 307-742-9607.

Doors open for "LightsOn!" project June 3

Another big step forward for Cheyenne's arts scene and downtown redevelopment. Can't make the event because I'll be in Casper at the annual Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference. But you can be there. FMI: www.lightsondowntown.org

Local art walk this evening -- and a meeting about energizing the local art scene

This is the second Thursday of the month so that means...

...the Art Design and Dine art walk from 5-8 p.m. Eight local galleries and exhibition spaces are open with new work this evening. Mixed-media artist Pravina Gondalia (sample of her work shown above) will be at Glen Garrett's Gallery, Haitian art will be on display at Clay Paper Scissors, glass artists at Prairie Wind and Deselms, and the art of Ringo Stavrowsky at the Link Gallery. Check out the ADD web site for more info on the shows.

Also at the Link Gallery -- Alan O'Hashi will announce the line-up for the Cheyenne International Film Festival. The first festival last spring was fantastic and I'm looking forward to some boffo movies (and box office) this year. Get more info at www.cheyenneinternationalfilmfestival.org

And don't forget the food and beverages at Ruby Juice and the Laramie County Public Library Cafe, co-sponsors of the art walk.

Prior to the art walk from 4-5:30 p.m., the Cheyenne Arts Council will host a meeting at the Historic Atlas Theatre, 211 W. 16th St., to "present its mission, image, goals and action plan -- the arts community is invited to express interest and to get involved." Get more info at 307-222-4747 or www.cheyenneartscouncil.org.

Artists and writers and performers and arts workers and arts funders and arts appreciators should show up. Remember what Woody Allen said about "showing up." It's especially important now as the Cheyenne Arts Council takes shape.

Now is the time to be creative about historic placemaking in downtown Cheyenne

The project has kind of a high-and-mighty name: Downtown Cheyenne Historic Placemaking Project. And the goals are not simple:

1. Involve a wide range of people and organizations to bring different perspectives to the table
2. Reach agreement on the major issues and opportunities affecting downtown’s near-term future and means by which to address them
3. Launch new partnerships and initiatives to accelerate downtown revitalization

The first goal is not a tough one. A wide range of people with different perspectives will attend the first meeting March 31 at the Plains (see details below). There are as many visions of downtown as there are weeds on the prairie. Some of those ideas will be as hard to nail down as a tumblin' tumbleweed. Still, it’s important to hear ideas, even if they are: we don’t need no stinkin’ downtown placemaking – and what the hell is placemaking anyway?

Reaching agreement will take time. But what do we have if not time? Downtown Cheyenne has been around for almost 150 years, since those first tents sprang up along the railroad lines in the 1860s. It’s boomed during good times and almost gone bust in bad times. But not even the rampant development along Dell Range killed it. Hurt it, and emptied some of the buildings. But downtown lives on in 2011, with some renewed signs of life:

• LightsOn! Project at the Hynds Building
• Renovation of the old Greer Furniture Building
• Construction at the old Dinneen car dealership
• Two weekly farmers’ markets, with the Tuesday Market on Yellowstone moving to the Historic Depot Plaza in June (and the winter farmers’ market in the Depot)
• The Third Thursday Art Design & Dine art walk
• Harvey Deselms moving his gallery to the Historic Whipple House
• Renovation of the State Capitol grounds, which will include an expanded plaza for gatherings and protests and just hanging out. The Capitol Building, of course, is downtown’s matching bookend, the renovated Depot being the other. The plaza will be flanked by the statues of Chief Washakie and Esther Hobart Morris, the same statues that represent The Equality State in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall in D.C.

There are others. Yet, problems remain:

• The Great Big Hole on 16th Street/Lincolnway
• Lots of empty buildings and storefronts
• No grocery store
• No comprehensive downtown plan
• Did I mention that Great Big Hole on 16th Street?

But this placemaking effort may lead to some breakthroughs. If not now, when? Cheyenne’s economy is robust (note to boss: I could use a raise to keep up with the Joneses) and it’s bound to get better with the recent surge in oil exploration.

I urge all of you to get out to this meeting on Thursday, March 31, 5:30-7 p.m. at the Historic Plains Hotel. Doors open at 5:30 and the presentations and brainstorming begins at 6. An hour is not a lot of brainstorming time, but it’s a start.

FMI: 307-637-6251.