Downtown San Bernardino art walk met with massive success

San Bernardino Generation Now hosted its first art walk on Saturday, January 26.

Hundreds of community members and local dignitaries, including Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes (who presented the organization with a Certificate of Recognition) attended the event, which was located at the Breezeway Alley in downtown San Bernardino.

“San Bernardino Generation Now is all about blending arts and civic engagement. We’re hoping to hold more events like this in the future; by doing so, we’re hoping to bring more life into Downtown San Bernardino,” said Ben Reynoso, San Bernardino Generation Now coordinator.

The art walk alley was filled with lively paintings by local artists, food vendors, spectators and live music by local band Hunter Lavender.

“We did not expect this amount of support. San Bernardino Generation Now is a movement. Our mission is to gather efforts and promote civic engagements. Through our efforts we want the community to feel free to use their own voice,” said Miriam Nieto, San Bernardino Generation Now coordinator.

Nieto says the organization has been fighting to host an art inspired community event for a number of years.

“People would always tell us that San Bernardino can’t do this. They say events like this will not be supported by the community; so we said let’s do it and see what happens. The outcome was far more successful than we could have ever imagined,” continued Nieto.

Nieto and Reynoso said the organization is always looking to welcome new members, volunteers and ideas with open arms.

“We want to hear people and know what they want to see in our city. We would love to hear what your visions are for San Bernardino. Anyone who would like to be a part of the group…just reach out to us,” Nieto said.

“Thank you to the community, because if there were any naysayers, we proved that San Bernardino can come together and be united. Thank you to our community partners and our volunteers. We would have not been able to do it without you. It takes a lot of people to make events like this happen,” concluded Nieto. For more information on Generation now, visit http://www.sbgenerationnow.com/ or call (909) 653-7003.