For no good reason, I was wondering earlier this afternoon whatever became of DowntownDallas's plan to fill up Main Street Garden's fountain, which, we discovered at the end of March, wouldn't be operational more than a two hours a day due to the fact Park and Rec's all tapped out. So I called Kourtny Garrett, senior vice president of marketing for DowntownDallas, to ask how that all worked out. To which she replied: "We found additional funding in our own budget to extend hours."
Huzzah. And they are ...?
Says Garrett, Park and Rec can only run the water between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. every day. To which Main Street Garden has added enough green to keep the water rushing from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Friday.
"We aren't operating on those hours yet," she says. "We've sent the request to the city, and it should come around in the next week or so."
While I had Garrett on the phone, I asked a few more questions about Main Street Garden. For those, and her answers, you'll have to jump. But you won't get wet. Not yet.
So, then, Kourtny: When's the cafe -- the Ivy Pad -- supposed to
open, anyhow?
She says they're "shooting for May 22, in time for the
Homegrown Music Festival." She means the Dallas Observer co-sponsored Homegrown Music and Art Festival -- which, if you didn't already know (and you shoulda by now), is on that Saturday and is scheduled to feature the likes of Jonathan Tyler & Northern Lights, Telegraph Canyon, The O's, Dem SouthernFolkz, This Will Destroy You and many others.
And, what's this I see on the Web site about a Friends of Main Street Garden Annual Membership? For $50?
"That's brand-new," she says. "We'll roll out more information on that
in a month. But it's like Friends of the Katy Trail or Friends of the
Farmers Market. It's a support network for the park, and some of the
benefits will be specific events the friends can partake in, like free
admission to events at the park." Such as? "The outdoor movie seires
we're planning on this fall. If we have to charge a nominal ticket fee
to the general pblic, the Friends will get in free."
