The Patty Jewett Neighborhood Association created the Art on the Run series of Tuesday evening concerts along the Shooks Run Trail as a way to surprise passers-by and enhance the quality of life in the neighborhood northeast of downtown Colorado Springs. Photo by R. Scott Rappold, The Gazette
Whew! I was afraid I’d been too slow to catch “Art on the Run.”
But as it turns out, there will be two more chances to see the unique celebration of art and open space.
If you haven’t read about it, this summer the Patty Jewett Neighborhood Association has surprised folks riding and walking the Shooks Run Trail with music on Tuesday evenings.
They called it “Art on the Run” because the concerts were staged along the trail, which traces the path of the Santa Fe Railway tracks that sliced a diagonal path through the neighborhood northeast of downtown Colorado Springs.
The tracks evolved into the trail, now a beloved feature of the neighborhood.
Public art is also loved by the neighborhood association, which it has expressed by creating a locomotive-themed bench in a pocket park along the trail.
The bench, built in partnership with Concrete Couch, the public art nonprofit created by Steve Wood of Manitou Springs, was designed to alert passers-by they were in a unique neighborhood.
The Art on the Run program is an extension of that thinking, said Amy Triandiflou, PJNA president.
“Patty Jewett really is a neat community,” Triandiflou said. “The Art on the Run event really gives us a voice for what we care about: community, art, music and the trail.”
She said the association board came up with the idea after learning the Pikes Peak Community Foundation was offering “ingenuity grants” to encourage people to use art to enhance the quality of life in the region.
“One of the ideas was to create spontaneous performance art along Shooks Run Trail,” she said.
A goal of the Patty Jewett Neighborhood Association's Art on the Run project was to surprise folks walking and riding the Shooks Run Trail. Photo by R. Scott Rappold, The Gazette
So the neighborhood partnered with the Colorado Springs Conservatory to locate artists, musicians and performers. In exchange, Patty Jewett is donating its $750 grant to the conservatory for scholarships. A neighborhood business, Dogtooth Coffee, donated bottled water.
The first concert, on June 12, featured a bluegrass band and the second, a week later, a jazz trio. They performed along the trail between Columbia and San Miguel streets, east of Corona Street.
“We had 150 people the first night,” Triandiflou said. “And about 90 came the second night.
“It was so great to see people excited about it.”
I was bummed because the series was scheduled to end July 3 before I could attend.
But due to the Waldo Canyon fire and some bad weather, the last two events were postponed.
Triandiflou said her board will decide this week when to reschedule those performances before the neighborhood’s Aug. 11 annual party.
Watch the Patty Jewett Neighborhood’s Facebook page for the new dates.
“It was so great,” Triandiflou said. “I love it that neighbors and the community embraced it.”
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