History of Art on the Ave

The Sixth Avenue Business District was not always a destination district for shopping, eating and entertainment. Until the mid-twentieth century, it was a great neighborhood shopping district, with a variety of stores catering to most of the day-to-day needs of North and Central Tacomans. By the late 80’s, its reputation came to be one of crime, prostitution, drugs and grime. Local drug stores, all but one of the grocery stores, the variety store, the florists, the apparel stores, the hardware stores, the jewelers, the home furnishings stores - nearly all gone. There were many vacancies and one burned out building.

Holly Minniti, who purchased the former Sun Drug building on the corner of Sixth and Anderson in 1994, looked out from the second floor to see hookers and drug dealing on the street. In her words, ‘My gosh, what have I done!’ Dusty Trail, who owned Engine House #9, had to purchase a neighboring drug house to eliminate it and turn the space into a parking lot.

Thanks in large part to the resurgence of neighborhood business district organizations, through the authorization and support of the Tacoma City Council and the Economic Development Department, the Sixth Avenue Merchants Association was revived in the fall of 1991 and began working and supporting the district’s revival.

By the late 90’s, as Sixth Avenue was struggling on its way to a comeback as a destination, the Association saw clearly the need to create at least one major event to draw the population’s attention the District. With leadership provided by District officers, Les Barnett, Business and Management Training at Bates Vocational Technical College, the University of Puget Sound business department and Carol Wolfe, Economic Development Department liaison, the Association developed a Car Show held on the Ave in the late summer of 1998.

After the show, the Association felt a car show did not attract the type of shopping customers desired in the District and ultimately decided the appropriate venue would be an Art Show, to be named Art on the Ave. This decision was guided in part by the Sixth Avenue Design Plan which outlined the importance of public art in creating pedestrian ambience and a welcoming streetscape.

With strong volunteer leadership from the then-small membership Association, the first Art on the Ave was presented in July, 1999, attracting about 2,000 visitors. The event was modest in size, not densely populated with artists and performance art, sparsely occupying The Ave from Pine to Prospect.

Each year since, Art on the Ave has become bigger and better, more and more artists each year finding it a good place to be the second Sunday of every July. It has come to feature many forms of local art, painting, sculpting, photography, music, dance, other performance art, children’s art, glass blowing, caricaturing, and other forms limited only by imagination. Manufactured art is not permitted.

Steadily increasing attendance has rewarded the show, with approximately 15,000 visitors in 2006.

Powerful leadership among the Association membership emerges each year to assure a successful show. Coordinators of the shows have included Holly Minniti, Theresa Grimes, Cary Nilson, some serving more than one year. The current coordinators are Carla Hall and Claudia Riedener. A strong guiding hand for the first several years was that of Carol Wolfe, Tacoma Economic Development Department and district residents. Dozens of Association members and volunteer neighbors have helped make Art on the Ave a continuing success story.

The annual presentation of Art on The Ave has generated on-going interest in the district from the Tacoma art community. Several artists have become actively involved in the Association. Two new art galleries opened on the Ave in 2007 (but have since been closed again). Public art for the Ave has been adopted as an emphasis for the Association and has resulted in a number of interesting pieces being placed on Sixth Avenue in the past years by the Art Coordinator, Claudia Riedener.

Generous givers to the Art on the Ave have included Jason MacKinnon’s Jazzbones, Shakabrah Java and O’Malley’s Irish Pub, all of which provided stages and music for a number of the years to enliven the day. District businesses have given important financial and in-kind support. The Association is grateful, too, to the City of Tacoma, Tacoma Art Commission, Tacoma Power, TAPCO Credit Union, Central Neighborhood Council, North End Neighborhood Council, MultiCare Health Systems, Key Bank, Gray Lumber, Walt’s Auto Care, Wells Fargo, Poole’s Corner, Masa and others for their financial support in this and/or previous years, without which Art on the Ave would not be possible.

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