Ramble weekend kicked off on Friday with open mic and open art in Jackson Square

A new event that many who attended, including the organizers, hope will return in future years premiered in Jackson Square on Friday night, the night before the Ramble Music and Arts Fest.

It was an open mic for local musicians and an open art session for local visual artists.

More than 200 people attended, and more musicians than time available signed up to sing and play.

Jo David Arts and Iburi Photography presented the event.

Jo David Arts is a partnership between local artists Mary Jo Whitman and Brian Kemp.  Iburi is a photography studio on Jackson Street that started hosting increasingly popular open mic sessions about five months ago.

"We're excited to bring this event to Jackson Square," Whitman said. "This is a great opportunity for local performers and artists to showcase their work and connect with the community in a fun and supportive environment."

The open art night is an extension of the First Fridays Open Art event at GO ART!, which was created by Kemp, who compared the event to a pick-up game of basketball.

"You just get together," Kemp said. "Like, I never got together with anybody and done art before until I had this idea, 'Well, I play basketball with other people, why can't I do art with people?' We're all working on our own thing, but sometimes we'll do collabs where somebody works on something that somebody else works on the same thing."

The Ramble started at 10 a.m. on Saturday and runs until 10 p.m., with music on two stages -- Jackson Square and Jackson Street. There will also be art and artists, activities, and food and beverages.

For a lineup of musical acts playing the Ramble this year, click here .

To view or purchase photos, click, here .