MAIN ST. Moderne: Web 2.0, iPhone app guide guests

FORT WORTH, Texas—MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival’s new iPhone app and social media communities that interface with its home on the web combine to make the 25^th annual downtown art festival a state-of-the-art experience.

MAIN ST. has moved with the breathless pace of technology, creating an iPhone app to help guests navigate its mile-long festival site and launching social media communities that make everyone part of the show’s story.

The MAIN ST. iPhone app is available free at the iTunes Store, and the festival’s renovated, social media-friendly home on the web, www.mainstreetartsfest.org, is live online. Join MAIN ST. social media communities at:

• • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mainstreetartsfest 
  • YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/MainStreetFortWorth
  • Twitter: http://twitter.com/mainstreetfest 

“Technology now exists to allow guests to share an experience like MAIN ST., and we saw opportunities to give patrons new ways to get a buzz going around one of the most anticipated events of the year,” said Ken Lentz, partner in the said Ken Lentz, partner in the Enilon Group, which developed the iPhone app and retooled MAIN ST.’s website for festival producer Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc.

“We wanted to do two things: the first was to create an iPhone app because the single best tool is one that gives you information when you’re at MAIN ST. It’s like having a guided tour the festival.

“Then we wanted to freshen up the website, open it up and make it interactive. Now patrons can contribute content as well as consume it, thanks to a social media interface that offers the best of both web generations.”

Printed programs for the 25th annual festival also will be available.

MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival celebrates its 25th year April 8-11 with a celebration of fine arts and crafts, music, film and food a mile long. More than 200 juried artists and fine crafts exhibitors will line brick-paved Main Street from the Tarrant County Courthouse to the Fort Worth Convention Center.

They’ll be joined by musicians and dancers on three stages. Performance artists and food and drink vendors complete the scene.

The festival is among the most honored shows in its class. MAIN ST. is ranked among the top shows nationwide in Art Fair SourceBook, the bible of the art show world, and was chosen one of the American Bus Association’s Top 100 Events inNorth America for group travel in 2010.

MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival is presented by Coors Light and produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. Festival hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, April 8; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 9-10; and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, April 11, 2010. Admission is free to the public. For more information, visit www.mainstreetartsfest.org.

MAIN ST. is made possible by a host of generous corporate citizens who support the festival year in and year out, bringing the finest entertainment to North Texas.Official Sponsors are Chase, Green Mountain Energy Company, Sundance Square, Texas Lincoln Mercury Dealers, and XTO Energy. Media Sponsors include CBS 11/TXA 21, D Magazine and the Star-Telegram as well as radio stations WRR 101.1, Mix 102.9, 102.1 The Edge, 106.1 KISS FM, 95.9 FM The Ranch, Country Legends 92.1, and Lone Star 92.5. Supporting Sponsors include Chesapeake Energy Company, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of North Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association, Fort Worth Transportation Authority, Pizza Hut, Target and the University of Texas at Arlington.

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