August 2011 - Corpus Christi First

Corpus Christi First
By: Megan Brieger and Alan S Albin

In July, our City residents and visitors experienced the launch of the “Corpus Christi First” initiative.  This progressive project is a collaboration between the City of Corpus Christi, the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Downtown Management District, the Downtown Marina, and the Regional Transportation Authority, in an effort to promote the revitalization of Downtown and to increase tourist traffic in Corpus Christi. It is an event-based program, scheduled to take place during the first weekend of every month. The anchor events for the weekend's activity are: 

Friday - the Downtown ArtWalk,

Saturday - Marina Market Days, 

Sunday - Harbor Bridge BridgeWalk.

These events encompass an incredible range of positivity, promoting community involvement and inclusion necessary for continued successful growth. As the initiative gains momentum it is anticipated that other events will be officially “adopted” to become part of “Corpus Christi First” and at the time of writing, in time for the August 5th ArtWalk, docent guided tours of City owned Public Art in the Downtown area will be piloted on ArtWalk mornings in August, September and October. The 9:30 tour will be dedicated to schools but the 11am tour will be open to the public and is free of charge. Starting point is La Retama park and transport is provided by the DMD Dtown tram. Also negotiations are underway to increase the Sunday fitness options to include a family friendly bicycle ride and some kind of running event.

ArtWalk, the veteran event of the DMD, takes place on the first Friday afternoon of every month from 5:30pm to 9:00pm. It  originally started as a small, five venue, art event and has evolved into the current 68 venue “Community Event” designed to demonstrate to residents and visitors alike that the Corpus Christi Downtown, whilst having much redevelopment still to come, is a safe and vibrant place to visit. Currently the Downtown businesses actively participating in the event offer music, art, and activities that give folks many reasons to revisit every month. The event grows each month, in venues and in participants. Since February, attendance has risen from the 300 mark to an estimated 2700 participants at the July ArtWalk. The Art Museum of South Texas, The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, and the Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures (all of which offer free entry to ArtWalkers on ArtWalk night) have all recently joined the ever increasing list of venues. Two new businesses on William Street (Threads and Urban Fare Cafe)  held their Grand Openings during the July ArtWalk, and have also added themselves to the growing list of ArtWalk venues. Additionally, local artists set up booths in La Retama Park and all over Downtown artists and musicians can be found  sharing their creations with fellow community members and visitors to the  ArtWalk. 

Marina Market Days continues the weekend’s events, and is held on the Lawrence Street T-head from 9am until 4pm Saturday. Like ArtWalk, the event is free to the public, and is located within walking distance of most Downtown hotels, making it highly accessible and noticeable to visitors. The Dtown Tram operates between Shoreline and the Lawrence Street T-head to provide a shuttle service for Market Days visitors who cannot get parked on the T-Head. The local community, boaters and visitors can enjoy another day of arts, crafts, and food at the new waterfront festival. An estimated 5,000 people attended the first Marina Market Days on July 3rd and August Market Days will have even more vendors than last time. At the time of writing over 66 vendors have registered and it looks like August will be a similar success. The September Marina Market Days will be held Saturday September 3rd.

Bridgewalk has been established as the Sunday anchor event, chosen to start a “fitness Sunday” theme, it is hoped to add cycling, running, and possibly other physical activity events to the day in order to provide a wide spectrum of activities from which to choose. After all walking over a high bridge may not appeal to everyone! 

Walking the bridge, whilst it has undoubtedly been done before, started in earnest on January 1st 2010 when a small group of friends and family realized a longtime ambition to walk over the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge. Only about a dozen people took part that day and the event was covered by Channel 3 and Channel 6. It turned into a monthly walking “club” which continued until April 2010 at which time the pedestrian walkways were closed to the public pending completion of the bridge maintenance contract.
TxDot agreed to open the walkways for limited special events and so we requested July 3rd to launch “Corpus Christi First” and January 1st, 2012 to help folks keep their New Year resolutions to stay fit. The July event, led by Mayor Joe Adame, attracted 200 walkers, 2 kids in strollers, and 4 dogs to complete the 2.5 mile walk. It was so successful that the Mayor suggested, to maintain momentum, we relocate the walk to Shoreline for the months of August to December, and February and March 2012 and so the “BridgeWalk without a bridge” was born.

Come join us at 9am  on September 4th, October 2nd, November 6th, and December 4th, weather permitting, to walk from the water park at Resaca, along Shoreline to Lawrence Street, around the T-Head and back. This is a 2.6 mile walk roughly equivalent to the distance covered on the bridge.

For more information on the Corpus Christi First initiative, The ArtWalk, Marina Market Days, or the BridgeWalk please check these web sites:

www.corpuschristifirst.com
www.artwalkcc.com
www.marinamarketdays.com
www.bridgewalkcc.com
www.cctexas.com
www.dtowncc.com


Dates for your diary:
Corpus Christi First weekend:

September:
ArtWalk - Friday 2nd,
Marina Market Days - Saturday 3rd,
BridgeWalk - Sunday 4th

October: 
ArtWalk - Friday September 30th,
Marina Market Days - Saturday 1st,
BridgeWalk - Sunday 2nd