The story of Gainesville’s music scene may soon be told through a dedicated Walk of Fame, similar to those found in the entertainment meccas of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami and Nashville.
The initiative is led by an advisory board operating under the local nonprofit MusicGNV. It was initially coordinated by Andrew Caplan, a former editor at The Sun, who said Gainesville’s iteration was conceptualized to support downtown Gainesville businesses, tourism, up-and-coming bands and tell the stories of legends.
“There are so many amazing musicians and people from this region who have helped shape the music community we enjoy today. I think any project that honors and celebrates that is worth supporting,” Caplan wrote in a text message.
Citing local and national musical icons like Bo Diddley, Less Than Jake and Minnie Riperton, the idea has already received positive local support and spurred an advisory board that includes local, key music stakeholders like Bill Bryson, owner of The Florida Theatre, and How Bazar and Dion Dia records co-founder Laila Foukary.
Advocates hope to raise an initial $30,000 to fund the first two years of the project, which would include six stars per year and a community unveiling event. Caplan added that the board is hoping to have the first round of names by 2026.
MusicGNV co-founder Brandon Telg told The Sun on Oct. 3 that the nonprofit is providing the Walk of Fame an organizational home by overseeing the fundraising and collecting donations. Calling the initiative a creative way to document Gainesville’s great music scene, Telg said the stars would honor musical voices from the past, present and future of Gainesville like Charles Bradley and Flipturn.
Telg added that Caplan and the board thought an ideal location for the Walk of Fame would be at the downtown streatery and was inspired by a similar concept in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“When I visited Knoxville, I had no idea that so many musicians that I loved had a connection to Knoxville and so to be able to offer something like that in Gainesville, it’s both a way of honoring our musical forebears but also the community can rally behind itself,” Telg said.
A fundraiser for the Gainesville Walk of Fame will take place at How Bazar sometime in November.
Bryson said one of the more difficult challenges the advisory board faced was creating the criteria for how a living or deceased musical icon can earn a star.
According to its website, honorees must have either been born in or spent formative creative years in Alachua County, and their work must have made a national impact and contributed to our shared cultural heritage.
Bryson said no matter how much time and research goes into honoring musical icons, someone will always point out that you missed someone.
“You know whenever you pick people for things, other people get upset about who’s getting left out. So, you want to be able to have something you can fall back on and explain, “Hey, these were picked for these reasons,” then people can understand why you made those decisions,” Bryson said.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward has endorsed the concept and its possible location at the eventual and hopeful streatery, but it’s something the city won’t invest in financially.
“I think it’s really cool. People will come from other places to come and see a Tom Petty star on the Walk of Fame,” Ward said. “We should encourage and leverage more of that from a city viewpoint but as a Gainesville resident and one who enjoys music from people who are form here, I’m really excited.”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville Walk of Fame to honor local music legends from past, present and future
Reporting by Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
