Every downtown worth its salt has commissioned a public mural. Those with ambitious arts programming might have asphalt art, sculpture walks, or even hire buskers to perform downtown.
But poetry rarely takes center stage. However, Storrs, CT, builds a month of activities around the often over-looked discipline.
The Mansfield Downtown Partnership recently wrapped up its third celebration of National Poetry Month, which took place in April.
The festivities included poems stenciled on sidewalks which were visible only on rainy days. “Through the use of wet-view paint, our Sidewalk Stanzas appear and disappear with each passing shower,” the partnership says.
A DIY Poetry event encouraged visitors to a downtown library to write their own verses. A Poem Stroll featured poetry in the windows of many downtown businesses. And the popular Bite-sized Poetry returned with two gumball machines dispensing poems in small plastic canisters.
More on less well known downtown events appears in the May issue of Downtown Idea Exchange newsletter. Click to learn more about Downtown Idea Exchange and other resources for revitalizing downtowns and commercial corridors.