JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Wednesday was the big day for Jacksonville's first ever, One Spark festival. The crowd-funding festival in Downtown Jacksonville officially opened it's five-day run Wednesday afternoon.
"You'll find a little bit of everything here.. From artists who just want to display their art to someone who has invented an app," said One Spark spokesperson Abel Harding.
IMAGES: One Spark open for business
"I think it's important. Jacksonville has to have something downtown, it hasn't had a lot going on for a long time," said Arlington resident, Terry Guilfoil.
As artists from around the world converge down to showcase their music, art and technological innovations, they were greeted by volunteers like DeWayne Vicks, one of 800 people giving up their time and acting as ambassador for our city during this inaugural event.
"I want it to really turn out the best that it can," Vicks said. "I think it will be better for Jacksonville."
Hundreds of creators put final touches on their exhibits Wednesday. One example is the Yarn Bomb Jax Exhibit on the corner of Laura and Adams Streets close to The Jacksonville Landing.
Their art has spruced up the area in front of a vacant lot and it's just one example of the unique talent taking over Downtown for the rest of the week.
Jackie Kuhn and another knitter have been hanging art made out of yarn at their exhibit, that they worked on for the past six weeks.
After hearing about One Spark, Kuhn created "Yarn Bombers Jax", getting together 25 knitters and crocheters.
"Yarn bombing is a very neat, female dominated graffiti art, but unlike most graffiti, it's about love and peace and happiness," Kuhn said. "It has a sociological, psychological and economic benefit for the city."
The Boston bombing this week quickly brought focus to the amount of security there will be at One Spark.
For Kuhn, it brought another point into focus.
"We need a lot more of this type of bombing in this world," Kuhn said. "Yesterday, I was so preoccupied with setting up, that I missed the news about the bombing in Boston. At first I was like oh no our project has the word bomb in it, that's terrible and then I thought about it and I thought what the world really needs now is more yarn bombing. If everybody picked up knitting needles and yarn, I think we'd have a lot more peace and happiness and beauty in this world and less violence."