ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT The lights get brighter in the Limelight District

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Not far from where cranes loom over ascending towers of multimillion-dollar condos downtown, a scrappier, grassroots development is taking shape.

A pedestrianfriendly arts neighborhood is gaining momentum in the Limelight District, located along Lime Avenue between Fruitville Road and 12th Street.

Right now, the district’s fourth boundary juts in and out along Waterloo Avenue to accommodate residential buildings. But this border is in flux as the Limelight District, officially recognized by the city in 2020, works to extend its western boundary to encompass galleries around Princeton Street.

The Limelight District recently raised its arts profile with the March 30 opening of the Palmer Modern gallery at 925 N. Lime Ave. The arrival of the new gallery with artist spaces follows the February addition of a second space by arts collective Creative Liberties at 927 N. Lime Ave. Its flagship is nearby, at 901B Apricot Ave.

Twenty-one artists call Creative Liberties home, including cofounders Barbara Gerdeman, who specializes in photography, acrylic painting and mixed media, and Elizabeth Goodwill, who creates book art, fiber art and mixed media. Their new building houses 10 studio artists, gallery space and the Creative Academy classroom.

“Thanks to a huge amount of support from the community — the public, artists, arts advocates and the media — we have been able to grow Creative Liberties in a short time period,” says Gerdeman.

Commercial businesses are taking notice of the artistic ripening of an area formerly known for auto repair shops. Recent months have seen the arrival of Sunflower Market on Lime Avenue, a WaWa convenience store on Lime Circle and Sun King Brewing on Mango Avenue.

The arrival of Sun King has prompted Kim Livengood to add Friday night hours for her dogfriendly Hamlet’s Eatery. The food truck-brewpub is located in Livengood’s Bazaar at Apricot and Lime along with roughly 40 other tenants. Opened in 2018, the Bazaar is considered the anchor of the Limelight District.

But wait, this is a story about art, not business. Actually, it’s a story about the intersection of art and commerce and what urban planners call “placemaking,” a community development endeavor that’s easier said than done.

In the case of the Limelight District, a cabal of sorts has come together. Its members include Livengood, real estate developer and arts patron Howard Davis, Creative Lib-