Logan County Alliance opens dialogue for Downtown Business Committee
Upcoming festivals discussed

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[May 04, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday afternoon, the Logan County Alliance and Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce hosted an open meeting for the business owners and managers in the downtown district of the city of Lincoln.

On hand for the meeting were Andi Hake and Cara Barr of the LCA, and Nicole Cox of the Chamber. Michelle Bauer was also on hand as a representative of the “Swigs” portion of the Pigs and Swigs Festival, and Chris Graue was to present the “Pigs” side of the festival. Dom Dalpoas was on hand to talk about the Craft and Flea Market to be held in Scully Park that same weekend, and Justin Cheger, who is on the Arts in the Park committee that will be held in Latham Park.

Hake opened the meeting saying that the LCA wants to make certain all the components of the community were being represented. She said the LCA Development Council recognized that there needed to be a vehicle for the downtown businesses to add their voice. The LCA is suggesting a Downtown Business Committee. However, she said the Council has not developed a structure for that committee. She said the Council wants the business owners to tell them what they need and want. The hope is that the committee will form and hold regular meetings to talk about the needs of the downtown area. She said the result could be referred to other councils within the LCA, and then the two groups could work together.

She stressed that the goals of the Downtown Business Committee should belong to the downtown business owners and managers. “We don’t want to walk in here and dictate what the goals are for that committee,” she said.

Nicole Cox talked about some of the work the Chamber and LCA are already doing for the downtown area. One of the first is the large banners being manufactured to go in the windows of the currently empty storefronts. She said the banners would be large and say something to the effect of “Imagine your business here.” Hake added this would show guests to upcoming events that these empty buildings were not abandoned, and that the Chamber and Alliance are invested in the development of the downtown.

Hake said another project was a grassroots initiative of “Get up and move.” At the moment, research is still underway to develop the project. She said the general idea is to have signage that says something to the effect of “It’s a two minute walk from here to the Logan County Courthouse.” The idea is not necessarily to promote a walking tour, but to promote exercise and good health while pointing out the interesting aspects of the city. Hake added that the Healthy Communities Partnership was sponsoring this initiative, and the LCA is appreciative of their support and involvement.

Hake also talked about the recent compromises that were reached regarding the monthly car cruises held in the downtown area. There had been local merchants who had expressed concern earlier this year to former Mayor Keith Snyder. Those business owners felt the car cruises deterred business because street closures made it inconvenient for those who would visit the businesses.

The city, the Railsplitter Antique Auto Club, and the LCA met to address this. The final word on the subject was that the cruises would rotate around three sides of the square this summer, and there were also discussions of adding incentives for the cruise-in participants to shop while in town.
 


Cox said one suggestion might be to create a punch card for cruise participants making purchases in participating businesses. The downtown committee would decide a full card incentive. Hake gave one idea, that filled cards could be entered in a drawing at the end of the season. She said this would help encourage shoppers to spend enough to fill more than just one card.

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Cara Barr serves as the Events Coordinator for the LCA. She took the floor and discussed some of the general details of the upcoming festivals in the downtown area.

Pigs and Swigs will be held on June 5th through 7th.

Arts in the Park will be held on July 18th and 19th.

Pigs and Swigs street closures will include Kickapoo Street from Broadway to Clinton, Pulaski Street from one half block west of Kickapoo to North Hamilton, McLean Street from Clinton Street to Broadway, and the 600 block of Broadway Street.

Arts in the Park will have only one street closure, the one block of Pekin Street adjacent to Latham Park.

Downtown shuttle point to Balloon Festival

The Balloon Festival will be primarily at the Logan County Airport in late August, and the Railsplitting Festival and 1800’s Craft Fair will be held in September.

These last two festivals will not have a tremendous impact on the downtown business area.

Barr noted that one feature of the balloon festival is still is in the works, creating a downtown pick-up point for the shuttle. She said the details had not yet been ironed out, but that it would help encourage people to go into the downtown area during the festival, and do some shopping before or after their shuttle ride.

Kathy Schmidt of Prairie Years brought up the topic of holding downtown sidewalk sales at some point in time. Barr said that she thought that was a topic that could be addressed by the downtown committee. She said it was a great idea that could be developed. Schmidt said she felt like it would be a great idea to get all the merchants involved and create a great downtown activity.

Welcome bags
Festival planners are putting together welcome bags for the various vendors and participants at the festivals this year, and merchants were invited to provide information about their business in those bags. Bags will be given out at Pigs and Swigs, Arts in the Park, the Balloon Festival and the Railsplitting Festival in addition to at the LC Futbol Club’s Route 66 Shootout in September.

Hake said in regard to visitor packets, letters will be sent out to the business owners giving them submission deadlines if they wish to have advertising placed in those bags.

Cox said there would also be letters going out to all the downtown business owners regarding the formation of the Downtown Business Committee. She is hopeful that the committee will be able to call its first meeting within the next couple of weeks. When the committee is formed, Cox will serve as a Chamber liaison on the committee.

[Nila Smith]

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