The Charlotte Observer
By Courtney Devores
Correspondent
Posted: Thursday, Sep. 18, 2014
In 2014, there are practically as many community arts festivals as there are communities. But in
1964, when future mayor John Belk suggested such an arts festival to his colleague A. Grant
Whitney, community festivals in small cities like Charlotte weren’t common.
“The big challenge was having a lit outdoor location that could support a festival in the
evening,” says Festival in the Park board member Frank Whitney, a federal judge who is the son
of Grant Whitney. “The festivals that did exist did not have night lighting to illuminate the art.”
At the time, the modest festival boasted only 10 tents, an arts exhibit and a handful of live
performances. But in the decades since, Festival in the Park has become one of Charlotte’s
annual signature events. It will mark 50 years this weekend with five stages, 100 tents, 80
display panels for art, children’s arts and amusement activities, and other family-friendly
aspects (this year, it’s camel rides).
In creating the event, Grant Whitney was inspired by Tivoli Gardens – the then-100-plus-yearold
amusement park in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Frank Whitney was only 4 when the inaugural festival was held, and remembers toppling into
the water while feeding a duck. From youth to young adulthood, his resume with the festival
included performing with the Carolina Clowns, doing magic tricks, and participating in
Revolutionary War re-enactments.
Grant Whitney recruited whomever he could to perform and set up booths, Frank Whitney
says: “Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and religious organizations and what artists he could find.”
One year, Hari Krishnas passed out flowers and burned incense, and Boy Scouts erected a rope
bridge across the lake that sent many more children into the water.
In the early years, artists couldn’t sell their art (although they could take orders).
“At the time there was some disdain for selling anything at Public Park other than traditional
food vendors,” Whitney says. “(And) my father didn’t want people to feel pressure to buy
something. It took off the commercial edge.”
But “as festivals became abundant all over the country, artists became traveling professionals,”
he says. “It became impossible to not let artists, especially traveling artists, sell their work.”
The festival was so successful, Whitney says, that the National Endowment for the Arts studied
it as a model for community festivals in the 1970s.
Today, it remains a marquee event for Charlotte, and every year offers new twists. New for
2014: the aforementioned camel rides in the Family Fun Zone; a karaoke stage; the NBC Sunday
Night Football bus, which will display the Vince Lombardi trophy and other exhibits during its
stop there Saturday; and a Saturday concert by Carolina-reared musician Don Dixon featuring
Mitch Easter and Rob Ladd.
This was Grant Whitney’s initial vision – a festival that offers something for everyone – and
Frank Whitney thinks his father would be pleased how it’s continued to grow over the 15 years
since his death.
“It still has his focus of something for everybody,” Frank Whitney says. “There’s a big emphasis
on family. Grandparents can bring grandchildren. They can play with clowns while grandparents
are looking at fine art. He liked that family aspect and the wholesomeness of the festival. He
would be so happy it’s been around for 50 years.”