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March Herald Column, February 22, 2010 It’s the first quarter of 2010 and for some organizations that means things are relatively quiet. But that’s not the case in the Rhubarb Pie Capital. Our downtown association just hosted their biggest fund raiser of the year, the Sweetheart Wine Walk, on February 13th. And while the liquid sunshine our state is known for can sometimes quash attendance numbers for events, I am happy to report that we almost hit our record breaking numbers of last year. Sumner welcomed over 2,000 visitors to downtown in a four hour period and some of our merchant business wine tasting sites had as many as 700 visitors in their stores in that same four hour span. Now some might say, “wow, that’s a lot of people” and they would be right. But as a downtown director, I look for ways to work with members to incorporate that statistic into a strategy that means increased revenue to our Main Street businesses. Increased attendance is good, but how do we leverage those people into happy customers. Tongue-in-cheek I would tell you the wine helps. But it really is more than that. In a word, I would say partnerships make the difference. For an event this size it takes approximately 50 to 60 volunteers the day of the event. And that doesn’t include the extra help our merchants provide in their stores. Our businesses “man up” for the event, sometimes doubling and tripling their staff numbers to accommodate the crowds and provide a friendly atmosphere. Now mentioning attitudes may seem superfluous, but it’s easy to recognize a common theme when you listen to all the visitor comments about why folks come to our events. Fun and friendly top the list, but my favorite visitor comment is “I didn’t know this store was here”. That truly makes me want to do a happy dance. But to get five dozen volunteers to staff an event, partnerships are the name of the game. In addition to our wonderful crew of downtown volunteers, we engage the help of local businesses like Heritage Bank who bring in managers and staff from other branches because they love to come and shop downtown before they start work at the registration desk. Windmill Gardens sponsored free primroses for our ticket holders and Ascension Theatre Productions provided our cast of Main Street characters. We enlisted the help of Melanie Warren and Eric Kantor, board members from the Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce, Sumner Lions Club members, several Sumner city department directors and staff, and even Mayor Enslow came to greet folks and help at the registration desk. And let’s not forget our great police officers that never fail to get compliments from visitors. There’s just something about a smile and a wave from our Sumner PD that makes people feel welcomed. So it’s back to work now on the behind the scenes stuff in my office as we prepare and organize for other downtown projects and events coming up this year. And a big thank you goes out to all of our downtown partners who gladly volunteer their time to make it so much fun to spend some time in Sumner.
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