LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Lawrence community gathered for the annual Busker Festival along Massachusetts Street over Memorial Day weekend, but for the creative mind behind the festival, it's a show of support following a fire that wrecked his home.
Richard Renner woke up to fire alarms going off inside his Lawrence home at 3 a.m. on an early November morning last year.
"I had about 3 minutes to get my dog and get out of the house," he said.
Shortly after, he realized all he had was his dog and the clothes on his back.
As his house is being rebuilt, he has watched something else build, too.
"So much support and it continues to this day even," he said.
Renner said the Lawrence and performing arts communities were there for him with a fundraiser and a benefit concert.
Renner is a performer himself — a variety performer and silent clown, he says — and created the Lawrence Busker Festival 17 years ago.
"The community in general just loves the Busker Festival and they've taken it to heart," Renner said. "It is actually my gift back to the city."
Renner says following the fire that gift has become a personal one.
"I'm a performer myself, so I like to go out and see all the other performers, get to talk to them a little bit," Kyle Bruggemann, a Busker Festival attendee, said. "Everyone's just so supportive and there's a lot of opportunity here."
For Renner, the community coming together is a show in itself. He said it's a show of support.
"I'm so grateful and it's actually made me a much more supportive person, too," he said. "I'm returning the favor whenever I can."
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