Third Friday in Ottawa will continue on Madison Street after compromise

Third Friday will be taking place in Ottawa this year and event organizers will be allowed to close Madison Street, although there will be three Third Fridays instead of the requested six.

Open Space Art Gallery owner Amanda Weygand said the city is allowing three events from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 17, July 15 and Aug. 19. Officials initially offered two dates but Police Chief Brent Roalson came up with a plan to get them a third that everyone agreed works.

“The La Salle County Cruisers host their yearly car show that’s been going on for a long time and they request almost every street in the downtown be closed,” Weygand said. “The last few years, they haven’t used Madison Street.”

Roalson asked Weygand to reach out to the Cruisers to see about using Madison Street to host Third Friday at the same time.

The La Salle County Cruisers met the day after Weygand asked and agreed, allowing the June 17 Third Friday to run at the same time as the car show.

“So, we’ve got the summer months and I’m planning on making what we have bigger and better than ever,” Weygand said. “We’re going to have something for everyone.”

While plans still are in the works, Weygand said the June event that coincides with the car show will have a beekeeping observation put on by her fiancé, who is a beekeeper.

She’s planning on having an axe thrower for the July event and for the August event, Weygand is planning a Back to School Bash, since the third Friday of August is the weekend before children go back to school.

Whether or not the Open Space Art Gallery’s Third Friday events would even happen this year was up in the air until a City Council meeting last month where hundreds turned out to urge the Ottawa City Council to allow the events to continue.

It was said the city couldn’t allow Madison Street to be closed more than once in a summer, but an outpouring of support from Ottawa residents led to Third Friday getting three dates in the summer.

“I just want to personally thank each and every person who supports this event and sees how important it is to our community,” Weygand said in a Thursday Facebook post. “The passion this has brought out in people is inspiring. I will be working as hard as I can to make these three events the best Third Friday’s yet.”

Any downtown business wishing to participate in Third Friday can email openspaceartgallery@gmail.com and any artist wishing to participate can go to openspaceartgallery@gmail.com.