Waterfire started when I lived in Providence. It's a simple thing. Put some braziers on the water, light them, play some music. As I understand it, the artist asked the city for permission to do it small scale, was denied, and then went ahead and did it anyway. It was nice, people came, they encouraged him to do it more often. It's pretty and even a bit moving when the conditions and weather are just right, but it was really just a catalyst, something which brought people into a largely dead downtown, something which gave renewed appreciation of the potential of public spaces. Basically an excuse for a subdued street party, so you have the event itself and everything going on around it.
