ArtHop has been a staple of the Fresno community since 1996. Every first and third Thursday of the month, the friends and families of Fresno would gather downtown and populate the streets with fashion, food and art of all kinds. This all changed on July 19, when Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias announced that ArtHop would no longer take place outdoors. Instead, it will become a collection of indoor art galleries, stripping away the vendors and live music to create something a little more reserved. Some street vendors held their ground and remained for the next ArtHop on Aug. 1, but the low attendance could be felt all around downtown.
It’s 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 5, the first Thursday of the month. Fulton and Kern, one of the busiest intersections for ArtHop in the past, is empty. Only one booth populates the sidewalk. Pedro “Tommiegun Studios” Colin has been working on this street for three years and has no intention of stopping now. In July, Colin asked Fresno councilmembers what fines could be expected for vendors who still set up outdoors and never received a straightforward answer.
“I feel perfectly safe being out here. It’s a bummer that a lot of us got scared off, but there’s no zoning code from what I hear. Nothing enforced, no way to really find us. They’re just trying to scare us,” Colin said.
At 4 p.m., Joseph Rodriguez and Crystal Rocha arrive to begin setting up for ReHop, right next to Colin’s booth. ReHop is a collaborative effort led by Rocha and Rodriguez to fight back against the city’s new legislature and show that there are still people who believe in the sanctity of the outdoor ArtHop. They have been promoting this ArtHop as an “outdoor arts demonstration,” inviting other artists and vendors to show up and exercise free speech with an open mic.
“This feels like an unresolved issue with the city. It feels like there are still people who are wondering what’s going on, who know and love ArtHop, and we don’t want it to die, and things die when people give up on them,” Rocha said.
After spending some time with ReHop, I decided to visit the other indoor galleries I could find. This proved to be a challenge in itself. As I walked around downtown, I ran into other Fresnans that were looking for the same thing. We traveled together for a time, and had difficulties even while using a map.
The CMAC building on Van Ness Avenue was being used as an indoor art gallery, but there were still vendors outside, underneath the building’s mural.
Isaac Saenz, the artist outside CMAC, thinks that the outdoor vendor experience is much more profitable, despite the cost of permits.
“I think it’s gonna be a lot more difficult. I am very early on, just starting out. So now there’s gonna be vendor fees for every single event, even if I don’t make any money,” Saenz said. “I’ve done some indoor stuff, and the indoor stuff always has a lot less people. That’s why I chose specifically to be on the patio instead of in the studio or the classroom for this one, because I don’t know if people are even gonna know where that’s happening.”
At 5:30 p.m., I continued my journey on the sidewalks, looking for ArtHop banners and failing to find them. Luckily, a local art enthusiast named Vince Cosentino sympathized with me and helped me find my way to multiple galleries. Cosentino has been attending ArtHop for close to 20 years and is able to understand why things have changed. While he doesn’t plan on going to “Why Not Wednesday,” he thinks it’s a fine idea.
“I believe it’s a good option to give those people an opportunity to have their business and continue to do their business. I would love to see those people have success as well, but not to the detriment of artists having their art scene. It was nice to be able to go to a food truck, get something to eat and then go see some art, but I felt that a lot of that was drawing away from the art,” Cosentino said.
Cosentino and I walked to the Broadway Studios art gallery, and I was surprised to find that the colorful hallways with multiple doors on each side were mostly empty.
Renee Aguilar is one of the artists that work out of this gallery, and they’ve been here for six years. I didn’t visit this gallery at the time of peak traffic, but Aguilar still noticed a difference in attendance and energy.
“Driving here was definitely weirder than normal. I usually would get a couple of sticker sales by now, or at least some contacts for commissions, but I haven’t had a single person come in here,” Aguilar said.
After Broadway Studios, I made my way over to The Grand 1401, a towering building with many venues for rent. An art gallery was on the 10th floor, complete with a great view of downtown Fresno.
Christopher Solis is one of the artists present on the tenth floor. Solis has attended ArtHop purely as a consumer many times, and has never sensed any hostility in his experiences. According to Arias, a primary reason behind the decision was that the large crowds became a safety concern.
“I’ve never seen any violent thing happen, even when it was really packed, packed like you had to squeeze your way down the street. But it was cool, I’ve seen a lot of things and met a lot of people and… yeah, I don’t know why they would do that honestly,” Solis said.
My next stop was the Downtown Artist Gallery on L Street. Tim Padilla owns the gallery with his wife, and when they first acquired the space in 2020, their job was to support ArtHop. The gallery would display artist’s work who didn’t have private space or the money to have other representation. Padilla understands the disconnect between art and a street fair, but he empathizes with artists who need to start somewhere.
“But don’t get me wrong, there are artists that are peddling work that are trying to become artists. But how do you do that? People need an outlet, an outlet for showing their stuff, whether they’re vendors or artists or student studio people, so it’s just too much to happen in one night. And if there are more excuses to come downtown more often, I’m all for it,” Padilla said.
At 7:30 p.m., I returned to ReHop on Fulton and Kern. There was an additional art booth to the right of Rodriguez and Rocha, and there was a considerable amount of people crowding the sidewalk. Xypher Nym owns this new booth, and they wish the city council would take ReHop seriously.
“The city needs to start listening to the people, I feel like there’s no democratic input whatsoever,” Nym said. “The COVID-19 pandemic is very much ongoing, so to me, meeting outdoors is the safest option.”
Rocha has made two paintings that are meant to be pieced together, and together they are called “ArtHop For All.” Everyone who shows up and spends time with ReHop is meant to write what ArtHop means to them on the canvases.
Across the street and in front of a Chukchansi Park exit, a lone red canopy tent sits and has been resting for hours. Underneath the tent is Douglass Bess and his line of clothing apparel (To The Bag Apparel). Bess is frustrated that he spent his day in the sun waiting for no one.
“ArtHop for me was a $2,500 day. But now I see, the damage is done, and I sure as hell won’t be back next time. And it’s not like there were riots and fights on the streets, I’m Fresno born and raised and this is the one place where you would see gang members walking by and leave it alone. Where else in Fresno could you say that?” Bess said.
At 8 p.m., Rodriguez and Rocha call it a night. Before they pack up, Rocha reflects on this ArtHop. Some Fresnans weren’t made aware of the changes, and had some confusion regarding the low turnout. It was up to ReHop to explain the situation
“It’s a mixed bag, but people don’t understand what happened. ‘Where is everyone, what’s wrong?’ Answering those questions started a conversation of why art matters and why. So, if anything, it was just an opportunity to have a conversation,” Rocha said.
“You can’t keep the people away. If you make up that they’re violating codes and that they’re in danger, you can scare them off. But the people will see that there is life here, and they’ll be a part of it, because this street, Fulton street, belongs to the people,” Rocha said.
