By Mary Sisk
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The city’s aspiring “king of kitschy” invites you to his upcoming event to celebrate the end of summer.
Death of the Summer II is slated for Saturday and hosted by Jessie Prouty, the owner of Tawdry Toast Artcade, 2017 Broadway.
The store is an eclectic gallery, show space and curated thrift shop inspired by Prouty’s love of all things gaudy and vintage.
“The one rule I have for my business is if it’s strange and it’s weird looking, it goes,” Prouty said. “If it’s old and odd, it’s here.”
Prouty is hosting Death of the Summer II to let guests explore the space and enjoy a festive summer evening. The event will feature three local bands, ice cream, activities and more.
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Prouty, 33, was born in Rockford and moved to Florida as a child. He returned to the city about 15 years ago.
His eye for his unique and vintage goods stemmed from his college years, when he studied visual art and art history. He started at Rock Valley College and briefly attended Rockford University before completing his degree at Northern Illinois University.
Prouty’s love for art and theater drew him to on-campus jobs in the field. He worked as an assistant scene painter at Starlight, in the costume shop at Rockford University and in campus galleries at NIU.
He opened his first art studio space in Sycamore, where he remained for a year. He later moved his studio to Rockford to join the lively art scene here.
Prouty’s first studio in Rockford was located at 1210 Buchanan St. and opened nearly five years ago.
During this time, he also began to cultivate the space to his personal aesthetic and love for all things kitschy.
“I always joke that I want to be Rockford’s king of kitschy,” Prouty said. “I love anything that’s kind of overdone or ugly.”
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He also took inspiration from the Rooms To Go chain of stores, admiring its layout and conglomeration of different styles in each room.
“I used to love those sort of furniture stores because it would look like somebody cut up a house,” Prouty said. “That was kind of the idea I settled on eventually.”
The name of his business was inspired by the fact that the Buchanan Street location was formerly a commercial bread factory, spurring the vintage toaster logo.
He began hosting events within his first year at Buchanan Street. They originated as small art shows but soon grew into public events with live music, drinks and more.
“Every few months I’d have a little art show and then eventually I began meeting musicians,” Prouty said. “It just kind-of kept building from there.”
He moved to Broadway in March, and now he’s inviting everybody to the space for his end-of-summer celebration.
Death of the Summer originated three years ago when Prouty felt like he hadn’t held enough events that season.
Prouty found the event to be an unexpected success. Now he’s revisiting the event with a sequel on Saturday.
The bands playing include Gilded Cages, Quilt Club and Goat Getter. There will also be vintage video games available to play, books to read, ice cream and more.
Donations at the door are accepted, but admission is free.
“I sort-of just give people opportunities to enjoy the space and find fun stuff to do,” Prouty said. “Kind-of a fun way to celebrate the end of the summer.”
Know before you go | Death of the Summer II
Where: Tawdry Toast Artcade, 2017 Broadway, Rockford
When: 7-11 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 20
Admission: Free
More information: Visit the event’s Facebook page here.
This article is by Mary Sisk. Email her at msisk@rockrivercurrent.com or follow her on Instagram at @maryrrcurrent