History of the Gate

Once upon a time, when there was a Neighborhood Development Office that was part of City Government, its director, Jim Roberts, was a Garvin Place owner. He knew that the old A&P, a grocery on 4th Street, was to be torn down, and a greatly expanded A&P constructed (which later became Winn Dixie). The Garvin Place Association was concerned about added traffic from a major new commercial development. With Jim's influence, Mayor Harvey Sloane authorized a temporary closure at Garvin Place in 1975.

The temporary closure looked like a railroad crossing barrier. It was ugly, but it did what its proponents hoped it would: It fostered commercial expenditures on its north side and residential expenditures on its south side. A hard line it is - it needs to be - but it is a friendly line, too. “Good fences make good neighbors.” The beauty of the Garvin Gate is owing to Jeffrey Points and Associates (contributed design services) and equal monies from the City of Louisville (accomplished with the strong support of 8th Ward Alderman, Tom Denning) and donated by Garvin Place owners and residents.

Gate and Oak Street maintenance is achieved with the substantial help of Operation Brightside, Dismas House volunteers and area residents. (Sorry about this year; the drought did not help us!) Pray for the spring bulbs, and for new trees that will replace those that have succumbed.

& History of the Festival

For several years before the 1988 (optimistically) First Annual Garvin Gate Blues Festival, the Rudyard Kipling Restaurant had been serving up mo' and mo' better blues, and the folks gathering there, among them Rocky Adcook (musically, or “bluesically,” known as Rocky Amaretto), had begun to pester owners, Ken Pyle dnd Sheila Joyce, to have a blues festival in their parking lot. Meanwhile, the Garvin Place Association was reforming as the Garvin Gate Neighborhood Association - enlarging its boundaries to include Fourth and Sixth, Oak and Ormsby - and considering starting some kind of annual event (perhaps a flea market, someone suggested a white-elephant sale). But there was no question that this event was anticipated to be a “next-year” reality, not - as it happened - something that would be pulled together in a few weeks.

It all started with a beer or two at the Rudyard Kipling - after the neighborhood meeting where an annual event was discussed - and Ken Pyle asked me if I thought the neighborhood would be furious if he took the music outdoors for a “jam” in the parking lot. I thought the idea was fine as long as the hours were reasonable, but, my friends, the parking lot is dramatically better looking today than it was in 1988, and I thought the site would be absolutely grim. “What about having it at the Garvin Gate,” I said. “Possible,” he said, “How would your neighbors feel about that?” My job was to find out.

First stop, Association Chair, Paul Porzio, who loved the idea and talked to neighbors. Their response, great idea! Results that year: it rained so only 500 people came, we had a little profit from Paul's aggressive sweatshirt sales.

Year two, the Festival became an official event of the County Judge's Jefferson Discovery Program. We had great weather, and 10,000 people came! The festival was still south of the gate. Everything went smoothly but police advisors said the location was at maximum capacity that year and recommended closing Oak Street for year three.

In year three, Oak Street was closed between Fourth and Sixth and the bands were moved to the intersection. Twenty thousand people came! They came from east, west, south and Indiana, Some even came from out of town. They represented all colors, all economic levels, and all sexual orientations. The common thread was an appreciation of good blues.

by Ann Hassett, October, 1991