Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

I continue to dig through my “To-Read” pile. In the June MainStreet News, the journal of the National Trust Main Street Center, there was an article called “How Special Events Benefit Local Business”.

Apparently there are a number of downtown merchants around the country who question the value of special events. Some consider them bad for business because they disrupt traffic flow and may keep regular customers away. Other merchants don’t see an immediate increase in sales and thus question the investment of resources.

As the Retail Support Strategies Task Force clarified this summer, there are retail-focused events and there are entertainment-focused events. What the Main Street folks call “Special Events” clearly fall into the second, entertainment-focused, category.

The article, like the Task Force, suggests that the special, or entertainment-focused, event “is not necessarily to generate sales on that particular date, but rather to attract people to the commercial district, raise its profile, and give visitors a positive impression so that they will come back and shop another time”.

However, if the event is actually driving away business, it should be redesigned. As an example, the Hot Dog Festival vendors in Frankfurt, Indiana were blocking access to downtown businesses. The festival organizers redesigned the booth layout to put them in the center of the street, freeing up the sidewalks for use by the downtown merchants.

In Sommerville, Massachusetts, there used to be one big downtown event. It brought a lot of people for one day, required a lot of work but didn’t seem to make an impact on businesses. The community shifted their strategy to more, smaller events. They found these to be “less disruptive” and to “keep the energy humming and show results for local businesses”.

The RSS Task Force also recognized that the retailers can do things to increase their sales leverage from these events. Their suggestions included coupons distributed at the events, advertising in event programs and/or tickets, window displays that tie to the event, and temporary signage drawing visitors’ eyes to the retailers’ shops. In addition to increase the potential sales leverage from the events, many of these steps can increase the festive atmosphere of the downtown during these events.

If the organizers tweak their events and the retailers work to link to the events, both sides will benefit. Through these collaborative efforts, everyone can become a fan of fluff.

A friend of mine suggested that I read the July/August Architecture MN magazine. My “To-Read” list grows ever longer. Although I obtained a copy back in July, I only recently got around to reading it. It was certainly a worthwhile use of my time.

The featured stories are about Liveable Communities. No, it’s not the Met Council concept skeptically reviewed by Chamber President David Ludescher, it’s the AIA’s 10 Principles for Liveable Communities.

The first article in the series focused on Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak’s efforts to restore greatness to Washington Avenue, the city’s principal east-west corridor that connects the University of Minnesota , the Guthrie Theater, the Mill City Museum, the Downtown Library, and the city’s new downtown residential neighborhood in the warehouse district. The vision is to make it vibrant and pedestrian-friendly (much like Mayor Gary Nickels’ Seattle) through greening the sidewalks, quality street lighting, way-finding signage, public art, benches, and waste receptacles. Seems like a good idea to me, except they left out the bike racks.

Another article looks at a project in Duluth. Development pressure threatened the Upper Amity Creek, a popular trout stream. Citizens helped turn scenarios into a plan to be presented to the city council. The final plan preserved the most sensitive areas, reduced impervious surfaces, offered a variety of housing types, and preserved access to the natural amenities. The citizens, the city, the county, and the developers are now talking about making the plan a reality.

Finally, there was an article about Wilmar. The citizens of that town are working to revitalize their historic downtown. Interestingly, they view the real challenge for downtown renewal not being design and preservation but long-term political support. They also need to counter the perception that there’s quicker profits through opening a business in a pole barn than in downtown. The approach that the planning team is taking is to enhance downtown’s role as the central gathering place while assuring a variety of transportation choices and connections to other parts of the town.

There was also an article about the AIA’s 10 Principles for Liveable Communities with each principle illustrated by an example from a famous or almost-famous person. They include: Design on a Human Scale, Provide Choices (in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation and employment), Encourage Mixed-Use Development, Build Vibrant Public Spaces, and Protect Environmental Resources.

I was struck with the similarities between the AIA’s Principles and the Values expressed by Northfield’s citizens in the Comprehensive Plan Revision Process. The case studies reminded me of the NDDC’s efforts to gather stakeholder input for the Downtown Streetscape process. Based on the articles in this issue of Architecture MN, it would appear that including citizens’ values as development principles through early involvement increases the potential for a project’s success.

Sure, I’m usually first in line at the cheese curd booth. However, even with all my Alaskan Doughnut training, I can still only eat so much fried food at a time. So I supplement my daily diet with some of downtown’s delights during DJJD.

Today I stopped into Tiny’s Dogs All Day for lunch. Tim Sellers is getting into the spirit of things by using gold dollars for change. He said that it’s like the money old Jesse was trying to rob back in 1876.

There’s plenty of dining options in Downtown Northfield in addition to Tiny’s, with over 24 restaurants in an 8 block area. And plenty of retail opportunities too, with over 100 unique shops, most of them getting into the DJJD spirit, just check out their window displays.

So come on down(town), have some fun with all the “Defeat” events and activities, and Remember the Retail.

Jessica Prill, owner of Oolala, sent us an invitation to a special event she’s hosting this Saturday. Adrianne Lenker will be performing music, on the deck overlooking the Riverwalk and the Cannon (pictured here), from 6 pm to 8 pm. Everyone is welcome.

Her invitation reminded me that admist all the excitement of the Defeat of Jesse James Days festivities, downtown retailers remain open for business. During the past six months, the NDDC-Chamber Retail Support Strategies Task Force recognized that there are two types of events, retail-focused and entertainment-focused. The entertainment-focused events, like DJJD, may not provide an immediate boost to sales for many local retailers, however, by bringing people to town, it is believed that there may be a longer-term benefit when some of these visitors return to Northfield, perhaps for the holiday shopping season.

So, Remember the Retailers, and check out Adrianne Lenker, this Saturday, from 6 pm to 8 pm, at Oolala.

In today’s (September 4^th) Wall Street Journal, there’s an article about Adrian Benepe, New York City’s Park and Recreation Commissioner.

Mr. Benepe climbed the entire ladder to the top, starting with his first job picking up trash in a park on the Lower East Side. It was in his next job, as a roving ambassador and security-providing Park Ranger, that he had an epiphany. An elderly man told him that New York City suffered its collapse because it abandoned its parks to thugs and vandals.

From that experience, Mr. Benepe developed his belief that parks are what civilizes and transforms a city from a collection of buildings and people into a community. He argues that given the density of the city, New Yorkers are dependent on the parks not only for recreational purposes but also for social and political life. “Take even a tiny little triangle like Abingdon Square in Greenwich Village. If you fix it up and make it green, suddenly it becomes a magnet for people. If, on the other hand, it’s allowed to become gray and grimy, it becomes just the opposite - a haven for drug dealers.”

NDDC Vice President Joe Grundhoefer has been advocating for years that the downtown parks, Bridge Square and the adjacent piece overlooking the falls, should have picnic tables like the other parks in town. It would provide a nice respite for office workers, a little treat for mothers with small children, and a forum of political discussion for youth and seniors.

Joe has been told that picnic tables are hard to mow around and easy to throw in the river. As Kellen Kirchberg, Rick Estenson, Dave Shumway, and Eric Emmons will tell you, the City has at least one picnic table that would be awfully hard to toss into the river.

According to Mr. Benepe’s theory, the decision on picnic tables is clear: community or crime.