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<\/a>Twelve years later and despite that unfortunate debut date, Ray @ Night is thriving and will see its 12th anniversary Saturday, Sept. 14.<\/p>\n
Ray @ Night celebrates the diverse arts and culture district located on Ray Street \u2013 the short, one-way street that runs between University Avenue and North Park Way \u2013 every second Saturday of the month. Not only do the art-related merchants on Ray Street stay open and participate, there is also live entertainment, workshops and demonstrations, more than a dozen arts and crafts vendor booths, and food trucks also on hand.<\/p>\n
Troyan said the success of Ray @ Night is largely responsible for the \u201crevitalization and re-gentrification\u201d of North Park. \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful, it\u2019s wonderful, and it\u2019s still going strong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A master photographer who runs David Troyan Photography out of his Ray Street apartment, Troyan\u2019s family has owned three buildings that take up two-thirds of the block for over 40 years. A small parking lot sits in the middle of the three buildings, and over the last decade, Troyan has offered up the north and south walls that line the lot to artists as workspace for murals.<\/p>\n Currently there are three small independent murals on the south wall, and one large 3D mural \u2013 that integrates a replica of one of Troyan\u2019s photographs \u2013 on the north wall. The larger mural was completed by students from the Art Institute of San Diego, and extends up to the second-floor apartments.<\/p>\n Troyan said while the murals add much to the existing art district, paying the artists was not possible; however, offering the space and getting the supplies donated from both Frazee Paint and Dunn Edwards was his way of \u201cgiving back to the community.\u201d Additionally, during Ray @ Night Troyan divides his small parking lot into spaces for art vendors.<\/p>\n Sculptor Mary Buckman has owned a fine-art studio at 3821 Ray St. for almost seven years. She now shares the space with her husband Anthony Enyedy, who was a graphics designer for San Diego Home\/Garden magazine for 17 years before swapping his computer mouse for a paintbrush.<\/p>\n \u201cYou get all walks of life and a lot of young people that are interested in art, and I think it\u2019s nice that it attracts them,\u201d Buckman said about the monthly event.<\/p>\n Buckman also teaches private and group sculpting classes in their studio, which doubles as a gallery and is filled with Buckman\u2019s unique sculptures, those of her students, and dozens of Enyedy\u2019s paintings.<\/p>\n A couple doors down at 3813 Ray St. is Glimpse, an interior-design store which has a small mixture of jewelry and artwork consignments, but focuses on \u201cmindful products\u201d that are either eco-friendly, hand-made or locally made for the home and garden.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here for four years and I\u2019ve seen a dramatic increase in people coming to Ray @ Night \u2026 which is really wonderful,\u201d said Glimpse owner Lynle Ellis.<\/p>\n California natives Mike Fish and Tee Taylor are the husband-and-wife team behind Oh My Dog Studio, a pet photography business located at 3824 Ray St.<\/p>\n Taylor said the couple \u201cmade a lifestyle decision\u201d to move from Encinitas, Calif. to the \u201curban village\u201d of North Park a few years ago, and since then have become active in the local community, in part donating studio time to local dog-rescue organizations. Taylor is currently chair of North Park For the Arts, which operates Ray @ Night, among other initiatives promoting art.<\/p>\n Taylor announced a new event for North Park For the Arts, which will launch in conjunction with the Ray @ Night anniversary Sept. 14, and then every six months thereafter, called \u201cInside the Artist Studio Tour.\u201d It is an affordable, artful \u201cwalkabout,\u201d she said, that includes meeting local artists, participating in workshops, and sampling various culinary treats that takes place in the hours leading up to Ray @ Night.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create more synergy with the local restaurants and hospitality groups,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n During Ray @ Night, Taylor said they have had lots of impromptu groups arrive unannounced over the last few years, including a recycled-art parade, a flea circus, aerial acrobats, fire dancers and even flash mobs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never know what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d she said, adding that they also like people to \u201cexpect the unexpected\u201d when it comes to the food trucks and bands they sign up for the monthly event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to reach out beyond just the visual arts. That\u2019s our goal,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n North Park For the Arts is an all-volunteer organization that meets monthly at the North Park Main Street offices and Taylor said they are always looking for new vendors, entertainers and volunteers for Ray @ Night and their various other projects.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat keeps me going on with the effort \u2013 in addition to just promoting the arts \u2013 is that I absolutely love seeing so many people outside away from their televisions, interacting with each other, trying different foods, looking at art, talking with each other [and] laughing, just in that interactive community environment,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that anything that brings that, really to me, is the end goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Ray @ Night celebrates its 12th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 14, on Ray Street in North Park from 6 \u2013 9 p.m. Ray @ Night is free to the public.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>