Urban Connectivity: Winter Park

[dougskiles]

They also have an ice rink setup in the park between Thanksgiving and New Years.

[stjr]

Winter Park's claim to fame is their annual art festival coming up March 18 to 20th.  I think it may be the biggest in the State. Surprised it wasn't mentioned in the article.  Maybe Jax could learn from that too.  Imagine an art show like this on the Shipyards or JEA property with the river as a backdrop. 

By the way, that's one weekend where taking a train to WP may pay off as I would think parking would be a bear.

http://www.wpsaf.org/CMS/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=11:2011-dates

History of the Show

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most prestigious juried outdoor art festivals, consistently rated among the top shows by Sunshine Artist and American Style magazines. Each year more than 350,000 visitors enjoy the show. This year about 1,200 artists from around the world applied for entry and an independent panel of judges selected 225 national and international artists to attend the show. The National Endowment for the Arts, The White House, Congress and many others have lauded the Festival for promoting art and art education in Central Florida. An all volunteer board of directors runs the annual Festival, now celebrating its 52nd year.

The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival was started by a handful of enthusiasts as a community project to benefit local artists and art lovers. The first festival was held on Park Avenue in March 1960. The festival featured original works of art and, after being advertised for just three weeks before the opening, drew 90 exhibiting artists. Over the next decade, the festival grew to over 600 artists and was spread out over Park Avenue from Fairbanks Avenue to Canton Avenue and on all cross streets. For the past 30 years or so, the festival has been contained solely in the park area and currently features 225 artists and 3 emerging artists. A loving art community has created and nurtured a successful festival that looks forward to another 50 years in Central Park.

[BridgeTroll]

It might be fun to pick a Saturday in March or April for some MJ folks to take a day trip to WP.  Meet at the Amshack at 7am... get back to Jax around 10pm

[tufsu1]

If I had to guess, I'd say Metropark, Hemming, and the Main Street trash receptacle park combined had fewer people than Memorial.

while that was most certainly true, the downtown Riverwalk was quite busy this weekend.

FYI....my brother was in town this weekend...it was his first visit to FL in 10 years....we spent Friday afternoon/evening downtown....Saturday we went up to the Timucuan area, took the ferry, went fishing on jax. beach pier, then drove around San Marco, Riverside, and Ortega...when I asked him his favorite area, (and he is anything but an urban kind of guy) he said downtown.

[Lunican]

By the way, that's one weekend where taking a train to WP may pay off as I would think parking would be a bear.

The train is definitely the way to get to the Winter Park Art Festival. It is almost impossible to get near downtown Winter Park by car that weekend.

[fieldafm]

And the best restaurant in Winter Park:

[Timkin]

Winter Park has a Town Center ,of sorts.. Part of it at one time was the Old Winter Park Mall.. they Razed most of it, except the building that housed Dillards at the time and redid the tract in sort of a Town Center Layout, called Winter Park Village.. very nice area.. lots to do...shopping and dining there ..