Special events add spice to springtime

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
This conceptual image shows what a planned downtown festival — “Art, Rhythm, and Brews,” — might look like when staged this spring on the courthouse square and along the Fourth Street pedestrian corridor. The event, scheduled for Friday, May 20, is being organized by the Maryville Public Arts Committee.

Usually when the Maryville City Council meets, the business at hand includes passing ordinances needed to move essential business forward. The result is that streets get paved, sewer pipes get lined, police cars get bought, grants get applied for, and bills get paid.

But this week, though Monday’s regular session included its share of routine business, the emphasis shifted to what citizens want to do for the town, rather than what the town is expected to do for its citizens.

With spring well under way, several groups approached the city’s governing board with requests for special events, all of which were approved.

First up among the upcoming celebrations are a series of “Extreme Cowboy” horse racing events to be held in the vicinity of the equestrian RV campground on the west side of the reservoir at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

The Extreme Cowboy Association-sanctioned races are being organized by a group of local riders, including Chris Redden, Runt Rageth, Denise Redden, and Angie Jones — who made the official request to the council on Monday sporting a silk-trimmed trail hat, Western-style shirt and jeans, and an ornate pancake-sized belt buckle.

Jones said about 60 riders — coming from as far away as California — are expected for the first race, which is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. this weekend, Saturday, April 2, and continue through late afternoon.

Subsequent races, Jones said, will take place Saturday, April 30, and the weekend of May 14-15 and could attract as many as 100 competitors.

Extreme Cowboy racing is a relatively new sport that hearkens back to the days of all-around ranch horses that could jump obstacles, work cattle, ford streams, and serve as reliable saddle mounts over long distances.

An equestrian course comprising 13 obstacles is nearing completion at Mozingo, and Jones said a number of the installations will eventually become permanent.

Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland, who has primary responsibility for park operations, said the races are bringing welcome publicity to the equestrian trail and camping facilities at Mozingo that don’t usually attract a lot of attention.

“We’re confident that this is an event that everyone can support,” Heiland said. “We’re excited about this.”

Heiland said city expenditures in support of Extreme Cowboy racing are minimal and include transporting and setting up a number of existing portable toilets, providing asphalt milling material to improve footing for the horses, and placing a dumpster on site during the four event days.

Also appearing on the roster of special events this spring is a downtown “Art, Rhythm, and Brews” festival being organized by the Maryville Public Arts Committee and scheduled for 7-10 p.m. Friday, May 20.

Committee member Dianne Sudhoff said plans for the event are still in flux, but that the idea is to set up pavilions that will dispense craft beers and cocktails, along with live music, at each of the three public sculpture sites on the Maryville square.

Sudhoff said a fourth pavilion will be located near a new sculpture to be installed along the West Fourth Street pedestrian corridor.

Drinks, food, and music dispensed at each location are to have some kind of a tie-in with the nearest sculpture. New artworks will replace existing sculptures around the square over the weekend of May 7-8.

The sculptures, leased for one year through the non-profit entity “SculptureOne,” are titled: “Fat Tire No. 4” by Lance Carleton, which will be placed along the Main Street side of the square in front of Carson’s Sports Grille; “School’s Out” by Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby, which will occupy the pedestal in front of Accent Advertising & Signs on Third Street; “Embrace” by Serge Mozhnevsky, an abstract work set for installation on the Fourth Street side of the square near the North Side Mall; and either “Cultural Pedestrians” by Sue Quinlan or “Seated Couple” by South Dakota sculptor Rick Haugen on West Fourth.

Sudhoff said “Art, Rhythm, and Brews” is targeted at adults, especially young professionals, rather than families or college students, and that tickets, in the form of wristbands, will cost in the neighborhood of $25 to $35 dollars.

She said local bars and restaurants will host the four pavilion locations and obtain special liquor licenses from the City of Maryville.

If all goes as planned, Third, Fourth, and Main Streets on the square would be blocked to traffic during the event as well as a portion of West Fourth Street.

Two other special events approved by the council this week include:

• A request to hold the inaugural April Lawyer Memorial 5K Run on Oct. 1, 2016. The evening event will honor a popular Maryville High School teacher who died Sept. 30, 2015, at age 52.

The run, sponsored by the MHS FACT Club, is to begin at the school and proceed northward along Munn Avenue.

• A request to hold a Country Showdown country music talent contest along the 300 block of North Market Street beginning at 6 p.m. June 11.

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Dressed for the trail, Angie Jones addresses the Maryville City Council on Monday with regard to plans for a series of “Extreme Cowboy” racing events set for this spring at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. The first race is scheduled to take place this Saturday with riders expected to participate from as far away as California.