The chance of rain did not stop residents from attending Taylor’s spring festival.
The city hosted the first ever Taylor Fest, which replaces the previous Blackland Prairie Days, Saturday, May 4 at Heritage Square.
Ruby Fisher, special events coordinator for Taylor, said Taylor Fest maintained the “same vibe of celebrating community” in Taylor, but also enhanced the event by bringing in cultural performances.
“Taylor Fest really changed the dial to also giving citizens and people attending the festival a chance to see how other cultures celebrate,” Fisher said. “It brought a lot of happiness and the festival felt very light-hearted. Everyone seemed to be in a pretty good mood, which is pretty cool especially considering it was election weekend.”
Cultural performances started with music from Hot Pickin 57s, a bluegrass band. Hawaiian dancers from the Tropical Productions followed at the top of the next hour.
Other performances included the Texas Dragon Dance Team and Bramaya, a West African drum group.
Taylor Fest closed with a ballet folklorico performance from McCallum High School and The Jams ATX, a Latin cover band.
“We had fantastic acts,” Fisher said. “I was very proud of their performances and overall it was just a good day to be in downtown.”
While Fisher did not have an official attendance number for Taylor Fest, she said there were at least over 500 visitors throughout the day.
There were 62 vendors present at Taylor Fest, according to Fisher.
Fisher said while business was great for shops at the event, she is aware area stores might get less foot traffic during these types of gatherings. So, Fisher said the city is working on ways to offset that for future events, such as waiving vendor fees.
“We do know that sometimes when we do have these festivals kept in Heritage Square, we don’t see the foot traffic travel throughout downtown,” Fisher said. “But that’s something that I would really like to grow into. I want Taylor Fest to be something that closes the roads. Currently, we just can’t financially justify it.”
Leftover funds generated from the event will go towards the Taylor Main Street Program, which Fisher said is currently working on a project to get more benches and trash cans to the downtown area.
Heritage Square was full of games, vendors and music during the first Taylor Fest Saturday, May 4. Photo by Hunter Dworaczyk
