What do “Desolation Row,” “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” have in common?Those titles all pretty much describe downtown Baton Rouge.But on Friday, I saw downtown look like I’ve never seen it in the middle of July: bustling with excited crowds of people. The reason? To see art.This isn’t really sounding like Baton Rouge.The Art Melt: A Fusion of Art, Music & Forum 35 was a free event centered on art chosen by jurors Dan Cameron, Brian Young and Ann Connelly. The art came in all forms, be it painting, sculpture or photography and was all created by local artists 18 years old and older.In addition to art decking the halls of the Shaw Center, local artists and vendors sold pieces of ceramics and jewelry along the streets and bands played outside for dancing crowds.Thousands of people were in attendance.It was amazing.It was vibrant and exciting. It was a good remedy to Baton Rouge’s normal lackadaisicalness when it comes to anything besides football. Not that football is bad, by any means, but it only happens for a few weekends a year. Then everything dies.But The Art Melt did a fantastic job of pulling people from across the city into downtown and thus providing instant business to the bars and restaurants that dot it.Unfortunately, Baton Rouge couldn’t get it exactly right. “A local artist said his work was censored when one of his photographs — a black-and-white photograph of a nude woman — was removed from the Art Melt art show,” according to the Advocate.It is not particularly surprising that censorship is alive in a town like Baton Rouge, but it is a shame that it rears its head when between 9,000 and 10,000 people flood downtown to see one of the few events that actually pulls people.Forum 35, the company sponsoring the event, made the decision to remove half of local artist Kenneth Wilks’s piece.It consisted of two photos: one of a woman facing the camera completely clothed, the other of the same woman in the same position, only this time she was nude.Though it goes without saying, the nude photo was removed, leaving the clothed one awkwardly hanging.”Erin Monroe Wesley, president of Forum 35, said in a statement Monday evening the group regrets the decision to remove the piece ‘without in-depth consideration of its impact on the artistic integrity of the piece, the artist, and the arts community,'” according to the Advocate.The oddest part of the story is that the piece was chosen to be in the exhibit. It isn’t like Wilks snuck into the Shaw Center and started hanging renegade art on the walls.The night escalated when an irate Wilks was escorted from the Shaw Center by a police officer, a completely  unnecessary component to what should have been, and by most accounts was, a great night for downtown Baton Rouge.Instead, news stories about the removed photos began to dominate headlines, which is a shame. It was a poor decision on the part of Forum 35 to remove the photo after it was chosen. You don’t order apple pie and then pick out all of the apples. In the same vein, if you choose a piece for an art show, it makes no sense to change it. If it was meant as a collection, the collection should have been shown. At the very least, the artist could have been informed his work was being removed.Instead, a night that had one of the bigger draws downtown Baton Rouge will see for a long while was marred with an unfortunate black spot.But it is only one part of what was a fantastic event. Downtown thrived. It felt alive. Frankly, it felt like a city other than Baton Rouge.We need more events like this. We need to save downtown Baton Rouge. Because, honestly, it can be a blast.And not to downplay the hard work that went into creating the Art Melt, but the concept is fairly simple. This could happen more often. Things like this, maybe on a smaller scale, could happen more often.Just look at our older brother 80 miles East. New Orleans has festivals constantly, and the city dwellers flock to them.We could have that here.We just need to keep holding events like Art Melt.Without the snags.—–Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]