Armed with zero budget but boundless determination, Swell-O-Phonic and Studio Chane artist and entrepreneur Chane is resurrecting Fondren's First Thursday Block Party after previously swearing he'd never take on the challenge again.

"Here we go again. I got talked into it last year for the '24 season," Chane recalls. "And I'd said I just wouldn't put myself ahead of that challenge anymore."

With a growing art career and family responsibilities, his focus has shifted from creating a one-night event to "bringing people in for the other 30 days of the month and creating a continual, all ships rising, traffic flow."

This year presents what Chane calls the "biggest challenge I've ever had." Without an event partner and a budget, "however you slice zero, it still comes out to not much of zero," he notes with characteristic wit. Initially, he considered it impossible, but his self-described "do enough to be dangerous and too stupid to quit" attitude prevailed.

Last year's event saw participation concentrated on Fondren's State Street, specifically, Fondren Corner. This time, Chane is strategically creating a southside anchor to distribute visitors throughout the district better. With his Studio Chane screen printing shop now relocated to Fondren Village, he's organizing a focused south anchor to create "a good balance of cross-neighborhood that pulls people around."

The strategy includes family-friendly elements like bounce houses, free t-shirts shot from a cannon, and live music. Several bands have already offered to play just for the platform opportunity. Chane envisions the event building momentum gradually. "For the first time ever, we'll have a highly organized focus on Fondren Place as a south anchor," he explains. "We want families and kids and dogs to come out. We want everybody to walk out of here with their own personal ownership."

Chane values those magical moments of community—seeing clusters of people standing on the side of the street "and just talking, people that may not be talking otherwise. And kids having fun running all over the place." When asked about favorite memories from past events, Chane recalls racing toilets on Duling as his pinnacle achievement. "The ability to take doctors and brain surgeons, to get them to completely come out of their element, and let their inhibitions go; it's just crazy to transform people into a single moment."

He summarizes the importance of the Fondren Block Party with passionate conviction: "Everybody in Jackson and surrounding areas needs this, and they deserve it, and no one else is doing it."

While plotting another year of Fondren Block Party jubilance, Chane has also fulfilled a 27-year dream by moving Studio Chane to a prime location in Fondren Village.

"27 years ago, I'm standing in a parking lot across the street (next to Cups) thinking, I sure would like that building (the mid-century, former home to Everyday Gardener) one day. Now 27 years later, I'm standing in that business, looking back the other way," he says. "It was a surreal moment."

Despite having what he describes as "the most perfect tenant/landlord relationship" at his previous screen print shop location on State Street, limited parking had become a deal-breaker. The team was making "three to four trips a day to the Corner Market parking lot to put things in cars, rolling dollies there" before deciding something had to change.

The $160,000 investment into the new space wasn't a decision made lightly. Chane took a 30-day hold on the property, investigated options outside Fondren "just to make sure," and ultimately decided this was the move his business needed to make.

The new location features ample parking and better visibility, and sits in a refreshed Fondren Village shopping center—complete with fresh landscaping, restriped parking, and revitalized neon lighting. A recent open house drew 400-500 people over two nights, proving the location's drawing power.

"We're not proclaiming to be the biggest, the best, or the baddest, but it's the biggest, best, and baddest that we've ever had," Chane says, adding with emphatic finality, "I will never move again, ever. Just take me out if I bring it up."

The new location reinforces his commitment to the neighborhood as he champions Fondren's appeal: "It's not just about funky. It's always about not being boring and we're far from boring."