It’s almost time to raise the curtain to trek, eat, dance, craft and meet yourself at the 40th Annual TMY folklife celebration, October 11-13, 2013. This most beloved and largest celebration of the multi-national Arizona-Sonora Region’s folk and ethnic communities will again welcome hundreds of performers, food vendors, folk artists, marketplace vendors and special events to converge in a Downtown Tucson cultural showcase. Some tidbits of what to expect:
- After extending the festival footprint over the last several years across to the TCC, this year’s TMY will focus its design in a concentrated footprint (shown on map). Pennington Street, off Church and Stone, will be activated and host a new American Traditions food area. In addition, the Lowrider Car Show & Shine will move back to Court Street, adjacent to the Tucson Museum of Art and the original 1980s location. In Partnership with the Pima Library Foundation, a storytelling stage will come alive at La Cocina/Old Town Artisans.
- Last year, TMY took its baby steps to having a “green” festival, and this year, in partnership with Pima County, UA Compost Cats and City of Tucson Environmental Services, sustainability will shine in a comprehensive Minimal Waste Plan for the Festival, setting an ambitious goal of recycling or composting 50 percent of generated waste. With the enthusiastic support of TMY food vendors consulted in advance, Styrofoam products will not be used at 2013 TMY. Go, green!
- Plan on visiting several exhibits commemorating TMY and its founding, including:
- A “Faces of the Festival” photographic gallery in the Pioneer Building Lobby; and
- A display of documents and ephemera from TMY archives, as well as a lecture series by Jim Griffith and others, at the UA Special Collections Library.
- Folk arts as always will be congregated in the Pima Courthouse Courtyard, but this year the Tohono O’odham and the Yaqui folk arts pavilions will set up alongside Church, to be nearby the traditional courtyard collection, with special activities planned in a traditional ramada and in the tradition-bearer booths.
As always, everywhere you turn will be an extravaganza of great, free music, dance, arts and culture celebrating Tucson’s diverse ethnic traditions.