Westheimer Street Festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Westheimer Street Festival is an art festival held in Houston, Texas since 1971.

Contents 1 Purpose of the Festival - An Inner City Community Gathering 2 History 2.1 Origins of Exile 2.2 Role of Annise Parker (before November 1997) 2.3 Controversy: Three Public Hearings 2.4 Media Frenzy 2.5 Rise of the WestFest Purists Organization 3 Free Admission to Revenue Generation 3.1 $5.00? 3.2 Appearance of the WFPO Cruiser 3.3 Bringing WestFest Back to Westheimer 4 Premeditated Homecoming and Political Aspirations 4.1 Early Opposition 4.2 City Council Aspirations 4.3 After the Homecoming 4.4 Swan Song? - Almost 5 Birth of the Montrose Patriot Art Vehicle 6 Is There a Replacement for WestFest? 7 WESTFEST RETURNS!! 8 Trivia 9 External links

[edit] Purpose of the Festival - An Inner City Community Gathering

Probably the clearest sign of the changing neighborhood dynamic in Montrose is the change of the character of the Westheimer Street Festival (known to Houstonians as the WestFest), a biannual neighborhood gathering held since the early 1970s. What actually became the Westheimer Street Festival was an offshoot of the Westheimer Colony Art Festival (known as the Bayou City Art Festival since 1997), which was established in 1971 as an arts/crafts festival. Around 1973, a collectivist-run street fair was centered around the art festival - which later evolved into the WestFest. Both the art and street festival were held in the same location until 1993; today, what has been known as the Bayou City Art Festival is usually held in Memorial Park in the spring and Downtown Houston in the fall. Contrary to popular belief, the Bayou City Art Festival and the Westheimer Street Festival are two separate events held simultaneously; from 1971 to 1995, the second weekend in April and October were the usual festival dates.

[edit] History

The Westheimer Street Festival originated on Westheimer Road in the Montrose neighborhood. The moving of the festival was the source of great controversy.

It wasn't until the mid-1990s when residents of inner loop neighborhoods, that is, communities located inside Loop 610 in Houston, forced the WestFest to relocate right after the Houston City Council passed a street closure ordinance authored by Houston City Councilmembers Annise Parker and Chris Bell in June 1999. Residents became tired of the noise, disruption and drunkenness which the festival brought to their neighborhoods. The last 'true' WestFest in the Montrose, where Westheimer was closed for 6 blocks, was held on October 16 and 17, 1999.

[edit] Origins of Exile

Right after the Westheimer (Art) Colony Association relocated the art festival portion to Downtown Houston (later the Bayou City Art Festival after 1995), the street festival, which grew around the art festival grounds, had no formal producer and/or promoter which started as a collective gathering. It's original status as a block party spanning several city blocks would fall under the hands of a producer who had the contracts (security, insurance, liquor permits) - the result was the formation of the Westheimer Street Festival Corporation under the tutelage of John Florez (source - Free Press Houston, October 2005). Florez archrival Sirron Kyles - a music promoter who booked the music bands - claimed that he came up with the idea to which the WestFest can be salvaged after the art festival parted from Montrose. Having two festival producers has led to several incidences of smears, negative publicity, and to the least, investigative reporting from the Houston Press.

[edit] Role of Annise Parker (before November 1997)

Around the same time after the incorporation, bookstore owner Annise Parker was elected as president of the Neartown Civic Association to which residents in the affected subdivisions voiced their concern that the festival was unregulated. Prior to serving as the Neartown Civic president, she campaigned twice for the Houston City Council in 1991 (for District C when Montrose was part of the district until redistricting where it now encompasses District D since) and 1995 (for the vacated Houston City Council At-Large #4 when Sheila Jackson Lee was elected as Congresswoman to the 18th Congressional District). Another concern was that the festival has grown beyond the limits of a traditional block party where several city blocks had to be closed off to vehicular traffic. A resident in the Mandell Place subdivision, back in October 1996, stated to the Houston Chronicle that the festival should be gone from Westheimer.

Upon winning her first term as an at-large Houston City Councilmember, she and fellow councilmember (and later U.S. Congressman) Chris Bell drafted a street closure ordinance, which passed June 15, 1999. The revised street closure ordinance which amended COH Sec. 89-559 to incorporate public hearings with a member of the City of Houston Public Works, has led to other festivals being relocated to either Downtown Houston and/or outside the Houston City Limits.

[edit] Controversy: Three Public Hearings

Holding a public hearing before a street closure was part of a revised street closure/festival ordinance which passed on June 16, 1999 - in years past, festival promoters and/or special events would obtain the documents from the City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering under Section 89-559. Three public hearings were held between December 1999 and January 2000 where a decision between fourteen Neartown C.A. members and festival promoter Florez resulted in a deadlock.

In January 2000, a hearing officer from the City of Houston Department of Public Works (George Bravenec) rescinded the street closure of Westheimer for the festival promoters after three attempts; a month later on February 15, 2000, a roll-call vote during the Houston City Council business meeting resulted in a 12-3 vote upholding the Public Works decision not to grant a street closure. Mayor Lee P. Brown and councilmembers Annise Parker voted with the majority, with councilmembers Mark Goldberg, Bert Keller, and Gordon Quan as the only dissenters. Festival promoter John Florez stated that "The festival will go on, and it will be dubbed the Westheimer Street Festival in Exile."

Because Parker was a past president of the Neartown Civic Association, she was one of 12 councilmembers along with Mayor Lee P. Brown who voted to move the WestFest out of the Montrose upholding a hearing officer's decision to deny the street closure permits to WestFest promoters; her re-election campaign in 2001 resulted in a 50.3% total vote nearly avoiding a runoff. (Parker stated that her narrow margin victory was in response to her position on domestic partner benefits - a proposition on the 2001 citywide elections known as Proposition 2 was strongly opposed by the GLBT community.) Right before she voted to move the WestFest; she had won re-election to her council seat in November 1999.

There were allegations from several pro-festival supporters who were denied the right to address the public hearings between December 1999 and January 2000; around fourteen anti-festival opponents who are affiliated with the Neartown Civic Association and a few residents in the Avondale subdivision, which is the home of the Montrose Bar District (e.g. Montrose Mining Company, JR's, South Beach) presented evidence where festival-goers in years past have either used private property for illegal dumping and/or have witnessed illegal activity. Only one individual spoke in favor of the festival - promoter John Florez.

[edit] Media Frenzy

One alternative newspaper, Houston's Other, had a breaking story around January 26, 2000 where the headline read: "NO MORE STREET FEST!" Prior to the breaking news, KKRW-FM's Dean and Rog drive-time show (on January 21, 2000) revealed the Westheimer Street Festival controversy where anti-gay remarks toward Houston City Councilmember Annise Parker were directed in retaliation to moving the festival.

[edit] Rise of the WestFest Purists Organization

Community activist Don "The Emissary" Seributra (a known freelance photojournalist/photographer, political/community activist, art car artist, race impersonator, and self-styled pimp*) referred to the flawed public hearings where 14 anti-festival opponents and one individual speaking in support of the festival was considered as "South Africa Justice" because a minority of 14 does not represent over 40,000 Montrose-area residents. At the time when the festival was moved, he was a graduate student at the University of Houston–Clear Lake campus enrolled in three classes. Around March 2000 while Seributra was submitting midterm exams, he drove into the Montrose and noticed that the 419 Westheimer building was leveled. By the time the festival was on Allen Parkway, he photographed the Montrose/Westheimer intersection and dropped by the Westheimer Street Festival in Exile and the Houston Downtown Street Festival (the latter of which the production team was behind WestFest Compressed).

Around April 26, 2000, the promoters of the Houston Downtown Street Festival was using the tagline "Formerly Known as the Westheimer Street Festival" in their ads where a state district judge intervened since Florez owned the naming rights.

He would later author a website titled Death of an Icon - The Westheimer Street Festival on June 17, 2000; this would lead to the establishment of the WestFest Purists Organization a few months later.

• The self-styled pimp was in response to Seributra usually seen in Downtown Houston's Market Square Historical District in a white coat much like Tony Montana in Scarface with a pumped-up 70s Afro wig.

One provision not included in the revised ordinance was holding a festival on private property - there was no valid city ordinance which states this in writing. Florez used this precedent for the WestFest homecoming in 2003; if he went ahead and held the festival on private property back in May 2000, there would have been mass roundups by the Houston Police Department; back in early 1990s, a Randall's Flagship employee (from the Westheimer/Shepherd store) was fired prompting a demonstration by prominent GLBT activists - this was actually a rehearsal for the 1992 Republican National Convention where HPD mounties profiled gray-haired men with ponytails, looking for activist/radio personality Ray Hill (back in 1987, he won his Supreme Court victory in City of Houston v. Hill).

On March 24, 2000, members of the Houston City Council decided that the festival was granted a park permit where Eleanor Tinsley Park off Allen Parkway was chosen - this led to a dark era lasting three years and eight months (between May 2000 - June 2003). Traditionally, Eleanor Tinsley (formerly known as Buffalo Bayou) Park has been a successful festival site, notably for the July 4th Freedom Fest and the Houston Art Car Parade.

During the relocation to Allen Parkway - the WestFest has declined, transforming from being a very Bohemian party where sexuality was celebrated to a corporate-sponsored event that is often not even actually held in the Montrose. It was the first street festival not to be held in its traditional location - a trend which would later affect the Houston International Festival and 104 KRBE Earth Day Festival a few years later.

[edit] Free Admission to Revenue Generation

[edit] $5.00?

The admission charge was initiated in October 2001 where declining participation was imminent, primarily from vendors and fans. Some prominent gay and lesbian organizations, such as the Pride Committee of Houston , Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, and the Stonewall Democrats of Houston decided not to rent booth space after the Allen Parkway relocation.

Besides the admission charge, Florez had staged wet t-shirt contests if the festival could resurrect itself on Allen Parkway. This actually failed.

[edit] Appearance of the WFPO Cruiser

Before the admission charge was initiated, a grassroots organization known as the WestFest Purists Organization was formed on the evening of October 31, 2000 - its mission was to find a workable solution to return the Westheimer Street Festival back to its Montrose home. An orange and white Chevrolet K5 Blazer with the WestFest Purists Organization's logo (known to a few activists as the WFPO Cruiser) was seen throughout the City of Houston - it would later become the basis of the Montrose Patriot art vehicle.

[edit] Bringing WestFest Back to Westheimer

Around October 2002, the festival organizers decided to engage in a petition drive to bring the festival back to the Montrose; however, not too many would consider the proposal of having Houston's 25th annual Gay Pride Parade held on the same weekend with the WestFest. Members of the Pride Committee of Houston decided not to intervene with the festival promoters since their concern was that the festival would be attaching itself to the Pride Parade's success. Another rumor known to the Montrose was that the festival promoter - John Florez - was of no friend to the entire community; some in the predominantly gay and lesbian elite refused to collaborate. One Pride Committee member referred to the WestFest as the 'Illegal Street Festival' as a sign of disgust since promoter Florez was known to Montrose-area residents as a pariah and persona non grata.

[edit] Premeditated Homecoming and Political Aspirations

[edit] Early Opposition

The festival's return was also controversial: the Houston Chronicle published an article in March 2003 where Houston City Councilmembers Annise Parker and Michael Berry opposed the return of WestFest; if the promoters went ahead and held the festival on Westheimer during Gay Pride Weekend, a feared rumor would have been a preemptive shutdown of the WestFest and mass arrests; in August 2002, a botched operation from the Houston Police Department where 278 innocent teenagers were arrested as part of a crackdown on illegal street racing in West Houston. The City of Houston was not ready for another legal scandal plaguing the Houston Police Department besides the embattled crime lab along with then-Chief C.O. Bradford's indictment on a perjury charge.

Without a street closure permit, the WestFest was held anyway on Westheimer Road in the Montrose on June 28 and 29, 2003. The promoters came up with a solution to have vendors set up their booths on private property with the permission of the property owners; the 2003 homecoming might have been a litmus test for a renaissance.

A few months after the Westheimer Street Festival celebrated its homecoming, the Houston International Festival (known as the IFest) was moved from Downtown to Reliant Park in response to the Houston City Council voting to increase the user fees for using city-owned property (such as fees for using park space and streets, security and garbage pickup) for festival promoters. What has led to a decline with the WestFest in 2000 has occurred to the IFest in 2004. On January 12, 2005, after Houston City Councilmember Pam Holm revealed her disgust about the closure of Downtown's Sam Houston Park in response to the Forbidden City Festival. The IFest returned to Sam Houston Park in April 2005.

[edit] City Council Aspirations

During the WestFest's homecoming (June 28 and 29, 2003), WestFest Purists Organization's founder Seributra announced his candidacy for the Houston City Council to replace at-large councilmember Annise Parker, who was forced to step down because of the three-term limit for elected officials in the City of Houston. Houston elected officials often seek another office either in city government and/or state, county, and federal office when their final term expires. He was interested in running for the vacated seat (Houston City Council At-Large Position One) since December 2001; as the only progressive candidate on the ballot during the 2003 city elections, he ended up with 5,147 votes finishing last in a field of five candidates. In August 2004, Seributra stated on Houston Indymedia that he will not seek another run for office in November 2005 because his best friend Sue Lovell (incumbent TX delegate to the Democratic National Committee) is seeking the vacated Houston City Council At-Large Position Two - he has decided not to run against her as if it was an act of political suicide. Throughout the 2005 Houston city election cycle, he is currently supporting Lovell (and incumbent Houston City Controller Annise Parker) as opposed to Jay K. Aiyer, an incumbent Houston Community College trustee. As of November 8, 2005, Lovell is currently in a runoff election earning 32% of the vote finishing first in a field of five candidates; she successfully won in the December 10, 2005 runoff election with 50.3% of the total vote.

(September 2005 addenum: Why his support of Lovell - he stated during a presentation at the August 2005 meeting of the River Oaks Democratic Women that the Houston City Council should have an openly gay or lesbian person on the council table; since 2003, there is no GLBT person since Annise Parker was elected controller. One point brought up was the solidarity of gay friendly allies with the GLBT community and voiced his support of Controller Parker (he has profiled her and her life partner Kathy Hubbard since 2001) and Sue Lovell - although Seributra is of Thai ancestry (and a natural-born Native Houstonian), he has no connection within his own community since he stated that Thai-American politics should not be reserved for the elite, and forging coalitions is a first step.

Although he is a current member of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus and a current sustaining member with the River Oaks Democratic Women - one statement Seributra has stated publicly is that he is a Straight But Not Narrow (although being within the crosshairs of gay-baiting rumors) - one who is tolerant of GLBT issues and considered gay friendly.

He has considered seeking office again in 2007 for Houston City Council At-Large Position Three (or Five) as opposed to District D since he currently resides in a predominantly African American city council district. The current incumbent, Ada Edwards, will be term-limited after 2007.

As of 11.11.05, Seributra is considering an exploratory committee before declaring an official candidacy - if official, it would mirror the upcoming Texas gubernatorial race where independent candidate Kinky Friedman has been collecting signatures for the November 2006 ballot.)

Seributra was not the only candidate for city council who has met with festival promoters: Houston City Councilmembers Bruce Tatro and Bert Keller (Tatro being a candidate for Houston City Controller, and Keller vacating his district seat to run citywide) have met with Florez stating their support for the festival's return.

Parker successfully campaigned for the Houston City Controller in 2003 and won in a runoff election.

[edit] After the Homecoming

The Allen Parkway relocation hurt the festival financially; in March 2004, circulated rumors on discontinuing the WestFest was of eminent domain. An interview with Houston City Councilmember Annise Parker of KPFT-FM's "Queer Voices" radio show in May 2003 detailed the changing nature of the Montrose, especially where it has been losing its GLBT flavor; the entire community is becoming more upscale where the homosexual population has decreased because of higher rent rates and homeownership of the former renters in less expensive neighborhoods such Westbury and Meyerland. Inner Loop neighbothoods, such as Third Ward, Midtown, Houston Heights and the cities of West University Place and Bellaire, have been experiencing an upward trend where older neighborhoods are gentrified to the point where existing residents had to relocate and/or assimilate into the mainstream with former suburbanites. Many former residents of suburban areas such as Clear Lake and The Woodlands have chosen to relocate to former 1950s-era suburbs and Inner Loop neighborhoods for shorter commutes to work centers for the following reasons: (1) rising fuel prices since 1999 after OPEC ordered production cuts, (2) traffic congestion, especially for a metropolitan area without a viable mass transit system (until the passage of a 2003 referendum which incorporates 73 miles of light rail service - known to Houstonians as the METRO Solutions), (3) living in close proximity to work centers e.g. the Galleria/Uptown Houston, Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza, and Downtown Houston, and (4) pedestrian and bicycle-friendly neighborhoods.

Some in the Montrose would suggest that Florez was usually seen in the Montrose three times a week and commuting to San Antonio on weekends (after July 2003) since he owns a business there; right before the Spring 2004 WestFest, the board of the Westheimer Street Festival Corporation disbanded. The Houston Chronicle revealed that a member of the Neartown Civic Association denied the liquor permits to WestFest promoters; however, this was proven as a fabricated lie by Florez - he actually refused the liquor permits because of financial constraints.

[edit] Swan Song? - Almost

The 'final' WestFest was held October 16 and 17, 2004 as a farewell after 31 years and 62 biannual festivals since 1973; right after the 2004 Presidential election, a petition drive since November 15, 2004 has been initiated by the WestFest Purists Organization, around the same time when Houston's KLOL-FM was pulled off the air by Clear Channel Communications, to continue the tradition, along with a proposed fundraiser. Proposals include a new WestFest with a new promoter and festival board which will be a lot more diverse than the previous board which was typecasted as despotic. Since the Allen Parkway years - mention the Westheimer Street Festival and the instant response is pariahism.

[edit] Birth of the Montrose Patriot Art Vehicle

Right after the WestFest homecoming in 2003, Seributra's WFPO Cruiser - which was seen during the WestFest's exile since October 2001, was about to undergo its metamorphosis - a painted art vehicle. A few weeks after the homecoming around July 15, 2003, he was browsing several websites pertaining to CUCV military vehicles - he came across a sketch of an M1009 CUCV stencil pattern - the 3-color NATO camouflage pattern was another 'out of the box' concept. October 20, 2003 was the first time when the WFPO Cruiser was unveiled with the repainted quarter panels during the CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) protest in the Galleria area right outside the Westin Galleria Hotel. Throughout 2004, when the WestFest was on its final legs, some festival-goers have seen the Montrose Patriot as a work in progress - the art car transformation might not have been enough to resuscitate the festival to its former glory.

The history of art cars being used as part of an exposition dates back to 1993 when Westheimer was closed between Yoakum Blvd/Waugh Drive and Taft Street - they were usually parked in the center of the street. During the October 2000 Westheimer Street Festival in Exile, around five art cars were seen parked on Allen Parkway; when the Spring 2002 WestFest came along, around 5 art vehicles were seen driving up Allen Parkway reminiscent of a Mardi Gras theme where beads were tossed.

During the 2003 WestFest homecoming, an e-mail sent to the festival producer stated that the WestFest Purists Organization was to be declared as a permanent stakeholder in returning the festival back to Montrose; however, this plan was shelved. One of the proposals was the permanent inclusion of an art car as a driving force to reclaim a past Montrose-area tradition. Throughout the 2004 WestFests, around $600 was spent for booth rentals - with the Montrose Patriot under construction. Was the WFPO not given their fair share - as of this writing, there is no word to whether the club will rebuild. Since October 2004, all WFPO activities have been suspended until the festival is resurrected (regardless of the promoter taking over) - after the WestFest World Headquarters (formerly located at 524-B Westheimer) was abandoned after the 2004 Presidential election, the primary focus of the WFPO has been divulged towards the Montrose Patriot for art car-related activities. Since November 2004, the only use of the Montrose Patriot is for art car events and/or special appearances; as of September 2005, the vehicle has been inactive due to rising fuel costs along with a planned transmission rebuild using spare components (since 10.7.05, the tranny job was completed on schedule right after the Heights Festival).

In response to the Montrose Patriot parked outside the WestFest Compressed site on Taft Street (10.15.05), there was no presence of WFPO activity since the listserv has been on hiatus for over a year. Although current WFPO founder and president Seributra stated to organizer M. Martin (along with Don Schwarzkopf) that he will support 100% a WestFest on Westheimer, it does not matter which organizer takes over the festival although the art car exposition was deemed unfeasible (the original proposal was for the Montrose Patriot with Becky Morris' Wheels of Imagination art car parked together as a promo for World Art Car Day).

Seributra denies ever collaborating with John Florez although he has met with him on several occasions on the grounds of diplomacy since 2001 when the festival was on Allen Parkway. Some suggest viewing two art vehicles on Taft Street (the Sunflower car parked within the Sacred Heart Studio along with Montrose Patriot outside the Houston Bicycle Co.) that the producers of WestFest Compressed decided to shelve 'rogue activity' where a repeat of the Florez regime will never occur again; as of November 2005, a proposed art car exposition is in the works for the 2006 Houston Art Car Parade where a spring festival will or will not host art car artists. Currently, parking art cars within the strip center parking lots on Westheimer is illegal (unless the property owner has a prearranged agreement) - the Noggin Del Fuego II art car was illegally parked outside Rouge in May 2004 as part of the 2004 Houston Art Car Parade promotions.

The Spring 2006 festival was rained out during the final weekend in April, so a planned expo never occurred. Most recently between the promoters of WestFest Compressed and the WestFest Purists Organization where one of the organizers forced Seributra to pay $5 to enter the Free Press Houston's holiday bash on 12.20.06 where he walked out of Numbers Nightclub (even though he attempted to build inroads to distance himself from Houston Indymedia), he stated in an e-mail to the organizers that he will withdraw his support for the festival because he felt excluded as if he was typecasted as a Florez ally. (As of January 2007, he has not commented further although circulated rumors have stated that he has ventured into nightlife photography in Houston-area nightclubs besides the resurrection of his modeling shoots, retired from photojournalism (in response to his mistreatment by members of the Houston Indymedia collective since 2002), and/or is still in mourning over his late mom, who passed away on June 24, 2006.

[edit] Is There a Replacement for WestFest?

Since January 2004, right after Super Bowl XXXVIII, the Main Event on Main Street (in the Market Square Historical District) would be deemed a Westheimer Street Festival replacement. Although technically not a street festival - the Downtown Entertainment District Alliance is the sponsor of the weekly events since the 300 - 500 blocks of Main Street in Downtown Houston is the home to several restaurants and nightclubs.

Gatherings like the Main Event, the Houston Gay Pride Parade (the last Montrose-area tradition besides the Greek Festival), Houston Art Car Parade, and the Heights Festival may not be the same as the bohemian-themed WestFest. A few in the Houston area would suggest that the Westheimer Street Festival has been an integral part of the Montrose-area economy, not to mention a Houston-area cult favorite.

It is unlikely that the Westheimer Street Festival would be held again on Westheimer due to the resistance and/or opposition from the Avondale and Neartown Civic Association - these civic clubs, since 1993, have voiced opposition to the 'inconveniences' and rumored illegal activity. This would imply that new residents - primarily conservative yuppies - have displaced the older generation who have been supportive of bohemian-themed community gatherings. Both civic associations have also targeted the homeless youth in years past; since July 5, 2005, a proposal (revealed during a townhall meeting) to extend the City of Houston's civility ordinance beyond Downtown and Midtown into Montrose has been debated.

Some would suggest that the amended street closure and festival ordinance passed in June 1999 by the Houston City Council has ended the WestFest's reign in Montrose, dramatically impacting the entire community besides the bohemian-themed businesses on Lower Westheimer and Covenant House of Texas.

The only legitimate closure of Westheimer and Montrose is during the Gay Pride Parade during the last Saturday in June.

[edit] WESTFEST RETURNS!!

On October 15, 2005 the latest incarnation of the Westheimer Street Festival will occur in a four block radius surrounding Westheimer (400 block) and Taft. The event is being called 'WESTFEST COMPRESSED'. The current production team has no relationship with the "Westheimer Street Festival Corporation", although members of the team have previously been involved with the festival in various capacities. Those wishing to learn more should go the current festival's website. In keeping with the desire to return to an earlier a more art-oriented event, the producers have arranged already for a variety of art installations. Inclusion of the Montrose Patriot art vehicle is being taken into consideration. WestFest Compressed will also coincide with the first Annual Free Press Houston Music Awards.

A write-up of the festival by Seributra was submitted to several publications; however, the original writeup article was not published. Some would suggest that a conflict of interest is likely since Seributra is/was the founder of the WestFest Purists Organization or if he was 'being too friendly' with John Florez. The original writeup article was republished on Houston Indymedia.

[edit] Trivia

The Houston Press named the Westheimer Street Festival as the Best Free Festival in 1999; what was supposed to be the official homecoming in 2003 was to bridge the gap between the old and new generation of Montrose-area residents. Although WestFest promoters conducted a poll in 1998 where the Montrose community was supportive of the festival; it seems that (1) the festival became a victim of its success, and (2) gentrification, along with quality-of-life concerns, might have been the root cause of its demise.

Without a WestFest in Montrose, losing a Houston-area tradition dating back to the counterculture is the same as the demise of Woodstock 1999. Since February 17, 2005, the Westheimer Street Festival website has announced that the festival is up for sale. As of May 19, 2005 from an anonymous tip - the starting bid is $40,000 for anyone who would become the new WestFest promoter. A few Houstonians would compare this to the demolition of the Shamrock Hilton hotel in June 1987 where a piece of Houston's own past has faded. Much like neighboring Freedmen's Town and the demolition of Allen Parkway Village in 1996, there is no historical significance - the Houston area is notorious for neglecting its history where the past is usually abandoned.

The former WFPO Cruiser, which was instrumental in bringing the WestFest back home, has been resurrected as the Montrose Patriot art vehicle. What originated as a grassroots campaign lives on - as a painted art car in the art car community.

An unrelated Westheimer Arts Festival (note the spelling for copyright reasons) was held during Gay Pride Weekend 2005 - this festival is of no relation to the former street festival and is not endorsed by the Art Colony Association - who owns the rights to the name "Westheimer Colony Art Festival" and "Bayou City Art Festival" (the latter used since March 1997). This festival was held in the parking lot of the Liberty Plaza/Westmount Shopping Center - a former Liberty Bank building. The festival setup is similar to the 2003 and 2004 WestFests.

[edit] External links

• Westheimer Street Festival Official Website
• Montrose Patriot art vehicle
• Death of an Icon - The Westheimer Street Festival (2000)
• Westheimer Street Festival Dead @ 31 (November 15, 2004 - Houston Indymedia)
• WestFest Purists Organization
• Bring Back WestFest to Westheimer (November 19, 2004 - Houston Indymedia)
• Biography of community activist Don "The Emissary" Seributra
• WestFest Compressed
• WestFest: Portrait of a Street Festival