Wichita State University - Parnassus Yearbook (Wichita, KS)

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ii-1. ' .1-.H CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: With the Big Arkansas River as a backdrop, Wichita State Universi- ty's Jazz ensemble performs during an evening concert at A. Price Woodard park. 5!17!84 J.T. Burks calls out on his har- monica while playing with Jimmy Fastfingers Dawkins during the Blues Concert.5!20!84 Tyrone Sentry, drummer for Jimmy Dawkins, gets into a faster paced blues number. 5120184 Decals on a guitar case show the in- temational road followed by a blues musician. 5!20!84. Fine Arts junior Amy Kellogg cools out with the blues and a beer. 5!20!84

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River Festival 1984 City Turns Out For Vernal Block-Party lf size can be any indication of success, then the 1984 River Festival continued to flourish. Festival organizers try to blend a bit of history with what is current during the 10-day event - held since 1974 - to come up with something in which Wichitans can both participate and just watch and enjoy. Based on sales of festival buttons and rib- bons, an estimated 175,000 people attended some part of the city's inauguration of spring. 'lt seems like every year it gets bigger and bigger, said River Festival organizer Marita Weninger. We just anticipate how many people will comef' were in the 80s and rain fell only on the next-to-last day. Weninger said that after the months of planning she was glad the good Lord helped with the weather. 'Some people refer to the festival as a Rite of Springf Broadfoot said. 'The first festival was held in july and people were sweltering. So the decision was made to have it in May when public schools can take an active part and more people aren't on vacationsf' The festival began with something of the feel of a block party. Friends and small families crowded along Main Steet for the sundowner parade, one of the openers for the festival. Lining the back streets of the parade routes, Shriners, wearing fezzes, skirted along in their minature cars into which they barely fit. Another group of parade entrants were drinking beer to pass the time and stave off the early spring chill. A group of children with the Camp F ire Girls and Boys looked as if they were freezing with only their swim- suits to wear. One girl, who would only say she was seven, wore a set of corrugated cardboard water skis as part of the Camp Elma Broadfoot, director of 1 Wichita Festivals Inc., said size is only part of the measure of a festivals success. The best yardstick is whether we are giv- ing people an opportunity for them to come together, to celebrate what we have in the community - our cultural and recreational resources.' Weather was probably the most influential factor for the week's success. Temperatures i x -'Mike Fire group's motif, but the skis kept falling off her tennis-shoed feet. The sign atop the Kansas State Bank and Trust building showed 66 degrees as the sun was going down. On the back of a black Ran- chero sat two speakers wired to a sound system cranking out about 60 decibels with a trailer hitched to the back loaded with baby boomers and their children.

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1 ...Q-mann--... Festival Parades Down Main Street It was part of the KMUW-FM!Wichita Blues Society float, During their stroll down Main Street, the sound system, tuned to KMUW-FM radio for a special musical in- terlude, blared the full sound of gutsy blues. The float was advertising their part of the festival - 'The Last Event' - which was a blues concert along the banks of the Big Arkansas River on the evening of the last day. The next morning was the opening weekend and the River Run. Thousands ran, officially and unofficially, in the two- mile or 10-kilometer run, which wound its way along the banks of the river and the streets of downtown. 'A physical spring cleaning,' one runner called it. This was also the weekend for balloon launches which drew hundreds of early risers each day it was held. Outdoor sports dominated the week's events. There was a tennis tournament, bicycle races as well as barefoot water skiing on the Little Arkansas River, which is maybe four foot deep at high tide. Concerts downtown at Heritage Square, where brown-baggers had lunchtime enter- tainment, were presented by high school musicians throughout the week. But it was the evening open-air performances along the Big Arkansas River which attracted the most attention. One of the larger audience draws was the midweek country music concert. The pro- gram also promised some bluegrass music but the cowboy hats that were flying proudly that night were evidence most people there had CSKW in their hearts and minds. On Thursday evening the fiery hot to icy cool strains of jazz were in the air along the Big Arkansas. The Wichita State University jazz Ensemble played mostly big band ar- rangements for full ensembles. The group was followed by the more esoteric sounds of Hands Down, a percus- sion group from WSU which works in the fu- sion vein. The good fortune with the weather ex-