Catfish Alley — the one-block stretch of Fourth Street that is Columbus’ most visible historically black district — has seen many improvements in the past year. New landscaping, a well-executed mural, sidewalk upgrades, lighting and signage improvements and a stately historical marker have been added, largely through the work of a committee formed by and including Mayor Robert Smith.
Saturday’s Catfish in the Alley festival, organized by that committee and Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Nancy Carpenter, was meant to help kick off this year’s Spring Pilgrimage and to celebrate the improvements.
Over the past several years the festival has suffered from a constantly-shifting format and unfortunate weather. The festival has yet to establish a lasting identity. The location has varied from Catfish Alley to the Hitching Lot to Trotter Convention Center. Last year the event was canceled.
While we applaud some of the decisions made this year, this year’s festival unfortunately became a sprawling, unfocused 10-hour-long catfish fry.
In the interest of providing feedback for future festivals, we offer the following:
Obviously, a lot of hard work went into planning, promoting and executing this year’s festival. Our feedback is not intended to demean those efforts. In the interest of disclosure, Dispatch publisher Birney Imes served on the planning committee, and managing editor Slim Smith served as a judge in Saturday’s catfish cooking contest.
We would like to see a return to the festival of years’ past, a more focused evening event with live music inside a large tent and catfish dinners available for purchase. People could purchase meals and eat them while listening to local musicians or take boxes to go.
A return to that format would have been especially nice under the new historic street lights on the alley.
Catfish Alley is a unique treasure that belongs only to this community. It’s one of many ways Columbus stands apart from other cities in terms of cultural attractions. Catfish in the Alley is a festival we should continue to celebrate.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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