One of My Favorite Weekends Returns to Oxford!

This past weekend the Double Decker Arts Festival took the city by storm and the city of Oxford spared nothing in making this year’s 25th anniversary one of the most memorable.

This was Double Decker’s first return since the pandemic and they kicked it off strong with Friday night’s musical lineup: The Wilkins Sisters, 49 Winchester, and Ole Miss alum Brett Young.

I arrived around 7:30 p.m. and took my roommate and her boyfriend around since it was her first time at Double Decker. We then ventured up to one of my favorite places in Oxford – the Coop.

Like I imagined, we had a short wait to get in as the restaurant/bar was “one in, one out” at the time and so we patiently waited and made friends with the bouncers at the door. Once there was room for the three of us, we headed straight for their outdoor patio. Seated on the back corner of N. Lamar, the Coop’s patio has the perfect view of The Square and Mississippi’s beautiful sunsets.

While on this particular night there was not much of a view beyond the massive stage constructed for the weekend’s entertainment, it was the perfect spot to view the “behind the scenes” work for the event.

Police barricades, artists' tour busses, portable restrooms, etc. were all in view and for the first time, I noticed details that I had never detected in past Double Deckers. Also, what shocked me the most was how organized and detailed everything seemed to be.

The road barricades were well dispersed with ample room between the railings and the people inside them, they also had large electronic signage well before the road closures that helped keep drivers from clogging up the surrounding areas. Parking attendants were also present at the gas station on the corner of N. Lamar and at the two entrances to the Graduate parking lot.

As the evening passed on and the countdown grew closer to Brett Young’s debut, the crowds began to grow and before long, the streets were filled with a sea of people. People from all over. We met some families who were here with their high school daughters and were touring the University and exploring Oxford; we met a retired couple from New Orleans that had always wanted to attend the festival but had to postpone their trip for the past two years because of the pandemic; and we met undergraduate students who had yet to experience a Double Decker festival in their tenure as a student.

I was in awe of how many people were there.

I had some reservations thinking that people might not venture out with the large crowds and the risk of the event being a “super spreader” (as my mother liked to call it), but it seemed like the event brought the community together in a way that never had before.

I have been to three Double Deckers prior to this year’s event and in years past, it’s just always been something that my family, friends, and I go to, walk around, look at art, and maybe try something new from one of the food trucks, however this year was more meaningful. This was the first year since the start of the pandemic. This was the first opportunity for some artists to showcase their work in two years and for others who found their artistic calling during the pandemic, this was their opportunity to make their “name” in Oxford.

We stayed at the Coop until well past Brett Young’s finale and I was amazed to see how quickly The Square emptied. Chairs were gone, trash was barely detected on the streets, and all of the “happy juice” that attendees had snuck in were gone in a blink of an eye. It was truly amazing to see.

As we walked back to the car, we each talked about the events that had unfolded throughout the evening and made note of the fireworks that peeked over the Oxford skyline from Swayzee, the beautiful sunset, and the overall electricity that seemed to be in the air.

While I did not venture out on Saturday for the art booths and music, I hope that those that attended also noticed the amount of planning, thoroughness, and thought that went into the event’s planning and execution. Double Deckers' Friday night festivities have never run so smoothly in years past. Like any event, I hope that the planners learned from what went well, what didn’t, and go into the planning of next year’s event proud of the event that they produced this year.