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One of the biggest street parties in South Texas started winding down an hour ago, at 10 p.m., but the crowd gathered on this balmy March night in Corpus Christi, at the intersection of North Chaparral and Peoples streets, is still singing along with the metal cover band. Lights bounce from the stage off the old brick buildings and oak trees that line this swath of downtown, just blocks from where a statue of hometown hero Selena stands sentinel by Corpus Christi Bay. The lion-maned lead singer of the band, Metal Shop, gyrates in his tight leather pants while belting out Mötley Crüe’s 1987 anthem, “Girls, Girls, Girls.”
No one appears ready to leave. Not the white-bearded old-timer pumping his arms while his grandkids eat kettle corn on the curb. Not the two women in bustiers dancing back-to-back in the front row or the dudes in black cowboy hats holding up their Lone Stars and hugging each other. Hundreds of Corpus natives are besotted by eighties hair-rock anthems—and what this event represents for the town.
Held on the first Friday of each month, March through November, ArtWalk draws a crowd of about 13,000 to twelve city blocks buzzing with a local scene that tourists in nearby Port Aransas seldom see. Although Brad Lomax, the visionary behind the popular Water Street Oyster Bar and Executive Surf Club, has, along with his family, been opening restaurants and developing properties downtown since around the time that “Girls, Girls, Girls” became a hit, it took a few decades for the area to become the unpretentiously fun neighborhood it is today.
At the first ArtWalk of the season, a locus of that fun percolates on the 300 block of North Chaparral, known for its restaurants and bars. Festgoers gather around the sidewalk patio outside Lucy’s Snackbar, sandwiched between the Surf Club and a lively new Tex-Mex joint called El Camino. Lucy’s serves treats that were recently hard to find in Corpus: matcha, grain bowls with coconut rice, rosé on tap. “I wanted to create a space that I’d like to be in, with things I would want,” says co-owner and local native Jessica Gignac. “In Corpus you can do that.”
On oak-arched Peoples Street nearby, Latin Grammy–nominated DJ and producer Dusty Oliveira has built a cumbia-inspired mini empire with a collective of friends. Under a brand they call Produce, Dusty and his crew have opened a recording studio, a retail store, and a funky snack shop, the Produce Micro Bodega, which sells goods ranging from high-end sardines and salami to “Dogg Treats” gummies in packages depicting an image of rapper Snoop Dogg. Next door, they run Produce Bar Co., a watering hole and art gallery.
Against a backdrop of giant oyster paintings, Produce Bar regulars greet each other with hugs and fist bumps while local star DJ Denzy nods his head to a hip-hop beat. A handful of patrons sport snapback hats emblazoned with “CUMBIA!”—a product from Produce’s merch line that celebrates the music Selena made famous and that El Dusty, as Oliveira is known, is making cool in his own way. At Hybrid, the record store next door, owner Carlos Cooper spins vinyl while shoppers peruse a sea of vintage T-shirts hanging from racks on the street outside.
Carlos E. Gonzalez, a local artist with bleached blond hair and oversized glasses, leans on the wall outside of Produce Bar hailing half the people who walk by. I ask him if Peoples Street is this much fun all the time. “Tonight is special, but it’s always a good scene,” he says. “Some people think Corpus is a sleepy beach town, but, you know, it’s got a creative vibe now. More like San Diego but still South Texas.”
Families, ranchers, and twentysomethings with nose rings line up at food trucks serving aguas frescas, street tacos, and deep-fried Oreos. They browse the hundreds of vendor booths selling locally made wares, including beauty products, soy candles, stationery, and bow ties for dogs and cats.
This roving street party unfolds against a setting of bright murals celebrating a distinct Corpus vernacular: shorebirds, a lotería card populated with images such as the galleta de mar (sand dollar), and hometown icon Farrah Fawcett, eternally smiling in her famous one-piece swimsuit.
The ArtWalk expands its reach to the Art Museum of South Texas. Earlier in the evening, filmmaker Sharon Arteaga, a Corpus native, screened a collection of her tender and funny short films depicting stories that mirror her childhood with her mother, a Mexican immigrant. The screening was sponsored in part by Restoration Community Arts, a local group working to renovate the downtown’s historic and once gorgeous Ritz Theatre, built in 1929.
Back at the intersection of North Chaparral and Peoples, as the clock ticks on, the metal band continues to roil the crowd, this time with an explosive cover of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” The lead singer shouts, “Corpus, are you with us?!” Clearly, we are.
This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue ofTexas Monthlywith the headline “More Than Just a Street Festival.”Subscribe today.
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