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What: Art & Soul in conjunction with the season’s final After Hours Artwalk

When: 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3.

Where: Wichita Falls Farmers Market, 8th and Ohio.

Information: (940) 322-4525.

In 2015, Art & Soul came into being, focusing on the works of 20 area artists as well as providing live music, with the annual event growing each year with more artists and live music along with downtown art dedications, second line dancing, brass bands and cultural fun.

2019 will mark the final Art & Soul event, said Jana Schmader, executive director of Downtown Wichita Falls Development, and will be held in connection with the final Afterhours Artwalk of the 2019 season. “When Art & Soul debuted, Artwalk hadn’t grown into what it is now,” she said.

“Looking at how everything has evolved, we are going to combine their strengths and put our resources into one (the Artwalk), so we can make that bigger and better.” The After Hours Artwalk takes place on the first Thursday of each month from early spring to Fall.  

Because of the special nature of the event, the Art & Soul and After Hours Artwalk will run from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday Oct. 3 downtown.

Art & Soul will be concentrated around the Farmers Market. There will also be live entertainment on a stage on the brick street next to the Market. Backdoor Theatre will perform starting at 5:15 p.m. and the Wichita Theatre follows at 6 p.m. or so. The Dallas-based (and Motown-influenced) Memphis Sound band will play at 7 p.m.  

“We are pretty sure the Zavala Dancers will also do a set,” she said.

The Artwalk will go on like it normally does, she said, spread across the downtown areas reaching as far out as the Kemp Center of the Arts and 9th Street Studios.  

There will be no admission fee to enter Art & Soul, and there are no featured artists as there have been in the past. “The Farmers Market will be filled with tons of artists, and there will be a youth section in the center. Off to the side there will be games and kids’ activities like landscaping art.”

Schmader said that DWFD is very pleased with the development of the After Hours Artwalk. “It has been so widely celebrated and embraced by the community, so we want to be able to grow that because it has been so great for downtown businesses and artists.

The Artwalk continues to develop and evolve, she said, “and that’s part of the evolution of the art community, in general. Over the last year there were a number of new businesses that opened and/or began participating in the Artwalk. They are all stretching themselves to try new things.”

Some businesses are locating and promoting their own artists or musicians, such as Ramble & Company with the band Red Brick Trolley playing on the second floor.

“Downtown businesses are free to come up with their own ideas and they communicate back with us, so we know what they are doing, so we can see all of the pieces of the puzzle,” Schmader said.  

The Artwalk has also been one of several venues for artists or less shown artists to display their work and be part of an ever-burgeoning area artist community. The Kemp Center for the Art’s Mystery Art exhibit, which runs in October is another.

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