Organizers estimated up to 750 people attended 25 events at Wistariahurst Museum, Heritage State Park, the Victory Theatre and Open Square, a conglomerate of mills in the midst of a revival.
HOLYOKE - The mills were alive with the arts on Saturday.
Four downtown "hubs" were established for the annual Discover Holyoke/Passport Holyoke menu of performing arts and city boosterism. Organizers estimated up to 750 people attended 25 events at Wistariahurst Museum, Heritage State Park, the Victory Theatre and Open Square, a conglomerate of mills in the midst of a revival.
"We want to spotlight and highlight all these groups across the city," organizer Celine Hamilton Quill said, adding that the line-up has grown year by year. "So people are not just exposed to one aspect of Holyoke, but a wide, eclectic group."
For the cost of a $1 wristband, visitors could attend multiple performances and see an array of exhibits at the four sites.
A mobile audience, for instance, watched an adagio, or set of exercises, by students from the Mass Academy of Ballet in Mill Four at Open Square, after perusing the Farmers' Market outside, watching a Zumba demonstration and before watching at ballroom dance demonstration from students and instructors of the Holyoke Creative Arts Center.
Holyoke resident Sandy Ward, who moved to Holyoke with her husband in 1995 for the city's affordable housing and diverse population, said the dizzying array of performances punctuated a Renaissance of downtown focused along the city's historic canals.
"I mean, look at this view!" Ward said, gesturing northwest toward CIty Hall. "We came here and chose Holyoke instead of living in the academic enclaves in favor of being in a real world."
Passport Holyoke is a collective of dozens of arts, recreation and civic groups that partner to promote one another and the city.
"There's huge support in the community as well as at the state level to grow the creative economy here," said Brian Fournier, director of the Holyoke Creative Arts Center, a partner in the event, as two dance students practiced a rumba in a cavernous space on the fourth floor of Mill Four.
Jamilah Ali, of Holyoke, came to the event for the first time on Saturday with her friend, Jane Barish, of Ashfield, who found the event on-line.
"I'm really glad I came. These buildings are stunning and I didn't know there was so much business and activity going on here," Ali said.
Later in the day there was a new addition to the schedule - a Latin Jazz Festival at the Winter Palace Theater, which Ward characterized as one of Holyoke's many "secret spots."