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page 18 Monday, August 27, 2012
2012 Art and Balloon Festival
How does the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival
impact local business and organizations?
Lincoln Daily News polled a wide array of businesses and organizations to get their response
to the question: How does the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival impact your business (or
organization)?
Lincoln Public Library -
Director Richard Sumrall
“For us it’s a wonderful thing,” said Sumrall. “We
get unbelievable attendance for the library’s annual
book sale. We sell out, and this is a real money-maker
for the library.
“The Art & Balloon Festival is a fun activity for
families and couldn’t be at a better time for us. We’re
all for it.”
Used book sale:
Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
It’s a buck-a-bag sale with no limit on bags. There
are also other in-house sales.
The book sale is in the Pegram Room in the
basement of the Carnegie Building.
Localartist Don Bode, Bode Welding
Bode says his welding business might get a trickle
of increase. But that isn’t where he sees an impact.
Bode’s been one of the featured local artists in
the art fair for about 10 years now and has quite a
following. Most of Don’s metalworks are suitable for
outdoor ornamentation. His stylish to fanciful yard
sculptures are a big hit there.
“Last year was about the best year I had,” he said.
Retail shops and restaurants
David Lanterman is the co-owner of Beans &
Such, along with his mother, Mary Lanterman. David
said this week that, yes, the balloon festival is very
good for his business and Lincoln’s downtown.
Lanterman said foot traffic in the shop increases
by a great deal during the balloon festival weekend.
As a matter of fact, they have somewhat of a problem,
though a good one.
“Foot traffic through our store is huge. Sales are
very good too, but sometimes there are too many
people in the store to allow serious shoppers to
browse. We do hear that from the shoppers, but we
find that many will come back another time,” he said.
Lanterman said they do extend their Saturday
hours a bit during the weekend to accommodate
evening shoppers, and they try to have their shop
transformed into their fall décor items.
“We just have all our new fall decorations and
items out since most people are ready for that,” he
said.
Beans & Such is well known for its gourmet
blends of coffee, ground fresh while the customer
waits. The store also offers a huge selection of
upscale home decor items.
On the north side of the square, Julie Tarter of
Mary Todd’s Hallmark looks forward to the balloon
festival each year.
At her store she sets up a sidewalk sale for the
weekend and offers some deep discounts on quality
merchandise. She also noted that the foot traffic in
her store increases by a large amount.
“We have lots of people from out of town who
love to come to Lincoln and look in at all the little
shops,” she said. “We also have a lot of local folks
who have weekend visitors. They enjoy bringing their
guests downtown and showing off what is here.”
Tarter said they do extend their Sunday hours
for the weekend. On a normal Sunday they would
be open from noon to 4 p.m., but during the festival