Better Block OKC, the all-volunteer effort to temporarily transform faded urban corridors into vibrant social and business hubs, is setting its sights on the Farmers Market District just west of downtown.
The 2013 Better Block OKC on May 4, presented by the ULI Oklahoma District Council, will again be coordinated by Allison Bailey and Kristen Vails as it follows up the 2012 inaugural effort staged at NW 7 and Hudson.
Last year's two-day event drew thousands who visited pop-up shops, food trucks and enjoyed a variety of live music and art displays. Visitors also saw experimental displays of curbside patios and back-in angled parking spaces. Only the parking spaces remain, and city officials are considering re-striping the street back to regular pull-in spaces.
Bailey, a retail consultant, and Vails, director of the 16th Street Plaza District, say their ambitions the second time around include more permanent changes in what was once one of the city's premier shopping venues for fresh produce.
“Partnership with the city is more important to move forward for this year, and we're hoping to do that,” Vails said. “The experiments on reverse angle parking and other efforts were meant for just one day and weren't set up to be done beyond that event. We realize if we had done more to work with the city to make them more permanent, they might have stayed.”
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