Starkville Partnership brings back Art Walk to help local artists

After a 3 year wait, the Art Walk was brought back into downtown Starkville.

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – For the first time since 2018, Starkville held its Art Walk event.

“Shop local. I mean that’s how Starkville thrives and that’s something we should all be proud of,” new local artist Danielle Atchley said.

After a three-year wait, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership brought back the Art Walk.

And for up-and-coming artists like Danielle Atchley, this event helped start them on the right foot.

“When I was in high school, I really had a passion for art. Then when I got involved in healthcare, it was an escape. It’s a nervous happiness because this is my first time to get out there and actually sell my paintings in front of people so just to see what the reaction is, to answer questions and just to see how it goes,” Atchley said.

Starkville Main Street Director, Paige Watson said this event was a good way to showcase the city’s creative side.

“Starkville, I think, has a very thriving art culture. We have so many great artists. We actually are going to have artists at both ends of the main street blocks that will be doing live paintings and I think too, people will really enjoy the live music downtown,” Watson said.

Atchley said events like this can help spark people’s interest in the arts and get them more involved in their own community.

“Just anything to wake up your creativity and inspire you as well and also just to bring back life. I feel like we’ve experienced so much negativity lately and I just want people, just to bring joy,” Atchley said.

Watson and Atchley both said they hoped this art walk would generate enough foot traffic in downtown Starkville to help both local artists and local businesses.

“There will be a lot of foot traffic because of this. So that’s obviously a great goal and what we want to do for Main street is to get people downtown and get them our shopping and out enjoying our community,” Watson said.

“A resounding theme throughout the pandemic is people were feeling like they couldn’t out and see and do and participate and this is an event where you can and you can give back to the local community. So shop local. Also, see what great talent we have in Starkville,” Atchley said.

The event went from 2 to 6 p.m from city hall to the edge of the Cotton District.