f I hear you say "there's nothing to do" one more time...
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...I'm going to beat you over the head with a rolled up M3 tab.
As the arts and entertainment reporter for more than three years now, I have covered every sort of event this city and its residents can cook up. As such, I know for a fact that when you say "there's nothing to do in this town," it's not true. Because if it were true, I'd be unemployed and not chained to my desk banging out 12 stories a week as I live off coffee and Red Bull.
And yet, still I hear it. Of course, I do understand it to a certain point. Being fairly young myself (I'm not so much pushing 30 as I'm lightly tapping it), I know that Victoria is not the hopping nighttime city so many of us wish it was.
But I'm starting to suspect that it's not the city's fault. It's ours.
We do not support local events very well, especially when new events crop up.
Case in point, the reason I felt compelled to write this column is because last week I went to a new event in town, the Monster Bash Costume Party presented by the Victoria Fine Arts Association. It had all the right elements:
A huge venue.
Four live bands, one of which was from Dallas.
A costume contest.
Alcohol.
Food.
Dancing.
Young people.
And yet, not that many people showed up. In fact, the last band, which was an incredible band that you couldn't resist dancing to, had to pack it up early because everyone was leaving.
It's a very simple rule, folks. If you want things to do in this town, you have to support things going on. In any given week, there are local bands playing, art exhibit openings, music festivals, concerts, cook-offs, dances, songwriter circles, acoustic jams, open mic nights, wine tastings, benefits, farmer's markets, fun runs, theater productions, underground heavy metal shows, arts and crafts markets, fundraisers. I could go on and on.
And that's not even mentioning all the events that never made it past one year because there simply wasn't the support there. I mean, one time Victoria even had a film premiere, complete with an art show and live music, and once again, there was a small showing of support.
The more people who attend these local events, the bigger they will get. The bigger they get, the more fun they become. Thus, they earn more money and/or popularity. More money and success means more ability to make the event even bigger and better. Other people see these successful events and then start one of their own.
Do you see where I'm going with this? If you support things going on currently, it will spurn more things to do in the future.
Perhaps I'm a bit bias because I go to most events in town and I know most of the hard-working people who are behind them. But I'm also bias because I'm young and I want more stuff to do.
So the next time you start thinking there's nothing to do in this town, how about checking out our events calendar. Or even give me a call, 361-580-6514, or shoot me an e-mail, abrandon@vicad.com, and I'll see if I can't find something worthwhile for you to do.
