By Chloe Marina Manchester
Arts Walk is a biannual (the one that’s twice a year, not the one that’s every two years) event in downtown Olympia where most of the businesses in downtown showcase exhibits from one or multiple artists. There are street performers, rain, and a mixture of downtown and Evergreen freaks and weirdos along with adorably wholesome families. I’m not gonna lie, I think spring arts walk is better; it’s less cold and depressing, less dark at an unreasonably early hour, and there are two parades. I’m a sucker for a parade.
On Friday night, I walked the two miles down the hill from my friend’s apartment to downtown with the sole goal of getting food before we event attempted to walk around and look at stuff. The new ramen place down town may be genteriffic, but it has reasonably good food, I got to admit. Pro tip: bring in your own hot sauce, they would probably yell at you but things are never spicy enough in this town. Another hot tip, if your friends convince you to put your number on the receipt because your waiter was flirting with you, he will text you and say it was his long time goal as a server to have that actually happen. And then you end up with a date. Go with your impulses.
Even with all the things going on across this great country of ours with regards to clowns, there were still an impressive number of clowns. Some were making balloon animals for kids or juggling, which is still an accepted thing that happens. But then we saw it. This intensely creepy clown with a bulbous fake nose holding a sign that said “Clowns are made of people.” That is not an accepted thing that happens. Our photographer, Bella, said that he walked up to her while she was taking pictures of arts walk and said, “Click.” I don’t even know how you could respond to that.
One of the main things that I like to do at any given arts walk in any town is to go into anywhere that looks like it might have free food. Olympia really let me down in that regard this time, although the rain did discourage me from doing more thorough investigative journalism in that respect, because no matter how long I live in Olympia, I will never think that being cold and soaked in rain is a good time. It isn’t, and people who think it’s fun either haven’t been here long enough to lose all hope, or are lying to themselves.
I realized that Olympia had got to me sometime last year and have leaned into it, to an extent. That extent being buying a crop top with a moth and moons on it from Psychic Sister.
I also attended, or at least attempted to attend, arts walk on Saturday. I more or less spent the amount of time it took to walk from the bus stop to buy coffee and then to Browsers Books to buy a book of poems that I feel in love with over the summer and decided I need to permanently own. Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey, if you’re curious.
But Saturday’s arts walk was, both literally and metaphorically, a wash with the rain being much more oppressive than it was Friday night and I had homework and laundry to do, both of which meant I could be warm and dry and wear a blanket like a cape.
I am still looking forward to Spring Arts Walk and the Procession of the Species parade, which is alway cool and adorable.
