Frisco Days celebrates street's past

Commercial Street was alive with the sights, sounds and smells of its glory days June 3 and 4 during the eighth annual Frisco Days historical festival.

The event celebrated Commercial Street's heritage as a railroad district, with reenactments of shootouts, horse and buggy rides, antique vehicles on display, ragtime music, and turn-of-the-century characters, such as trappers, cowboys and Victorian townspeople.

Frisco Days is sponsored by the Commercial Club of Springfield, and was managed by the Urban Districts Alliance for the first time this year. Mary Collette, who chairs the Frisco Days Committee for the Commercial Club, said she thinks the event drew about 8,000 to the district, which closed to vehicle traffic the weekend of the event.

Admission fees, which were $2 for those 12 and older, in part benefited AIDS Project of the Ozarks, the History Museum, and The Kitchen, among other organizations, and will also go toward funding other events sponsored by the UDA, such as Artsfest, Cider Days and First Night. Barb Baker, marketing and special events coordinator for the UDA, said a final dollar amount raised by Frisco Days was not yet available.

She said the UDA was asked to manage Frisco Days this year because it manages several other events for downtown districts and the Commercial Street district is also involved in the UDA. She said the UDA will most likely manage Frisco Days from now on. Baker said the event was moved from April to June this year because Artsfest also takes place in April, and for weather considerations.

"The weather at the event had been really iffy in years past," Baker said.

Collette said because Frisco Days was scheduled to take place in June without much notice to vendors and the public, it didn't quite meet Commercial Club projections for attendance.

"We did not have the traffic we hoped for this year, but there were reasons for that. The dates were different , the times were different, and we didn't do that until pretty late in the game," Collette said. "The response we got from the crafters and vendors is that they really liked the date change, but a lot of them were already booked for that weekend. They said they would put us on their calendars for next year, so there should be a dramatic increase in the number of crafters and vendors next year."

Collette said the Grand Old Jamboree evening concert, which took place on Saturday and was co-sponsored by the Downtown Dining and Entertainment Commission, was new to Frisco Days this year and was a success.

"It was a wonderful, wonderful concert. The weather was nice and there was a beautiful sunset," Collette said. "Even though the crowds weren't what we expected, we could see that everyone was having a really good time."

Other features new to Frisco Days this year were St. John's Seniors Storykeeper's Arena, which took place inside the old Fire Station No. 2 and a display on Boonville with photos and videos of recollections of Commercial Street in its heyday.

Rick Marz, manager of The Open Book at 212 E. Commercial, said the store had an excellent weekend. "Anything that brings more traffic into the area is good for businesses in our area. The best change this year was the date change. The weather is so much better and people are out and about more," Marz said.