APRIL 21, 2008 (0
comments)
Downtown counts on fair exposure
By Jerry Webber
The Encinitas Street Fair is more than just
a good time. It is annual exposure for and reinvestment in the
downtown Encinitas business community. Although some struggle
with the fair, others depend on it for their survival.
“This particular street fair
generates about 43 percent of our total income,” said
Dody Tucker, executive director of DEMA, the Downtown Encinitas
MainStreet Association. “The money from this and our Fall
Festival (22 percent) is reinvested in our specific downtown
area in the form of advertising and promotion and activities
that benefit the whole Encinitas community, as well as
preservation efforts.”
DEMA is the group responsible for the
Encinitas Street Fair. They are a non-profit organization and
need the revenue from the street fair to stay afloat.
“Basically it’s the revenue we
run DEMA on,” said Carris Rhodes, DEMA program assistant.
“We get other grants from the county
and from the city that are a lot smaller than the revenue
generated,” said Rhodes, referring to the money they take
in from the street fair.
According to DEMA, 40,000 to 50,000 people
will visit the fair each day. That is a lot of exposure and a
lot of opportunity to make a buck. It is not just DEMA that
benefits from this influx of people. Many of the local
businesses take advantage of the opportunity.
“Queen” Eileen Burke, owner of
Queen Eileen’s gift shop on Coast Highway 101, is someone
who makes the most of the opportunity the fair provides.
“We always get a booth. We actually
get two booths,” Burke said.
According to Burke, she does a sidewalk
sale and bakes cookies during the fair and hands them out for
free.
“Whenever there’s a street fair
our numbers at least triple,” Burke said.
But for business owners in this community,
it is not just about the sales that weekend. It is the lasting
effects of the fair that can be most beneficial.
“The whole thing is the people that
you meet that come back throughout the year, that’s the
real plus,” Burke said.
Marianne D’Amico is a business owner
who makes the most of the opportunity in a different way.
D’Amico is the co-owner of Europtics Inc., located on
Coast Highway 101 in the Lumberyard.
“We don’t get any business, but
I think it’s great exposure,” D’Amico said.
“We’re closed on Sunday, but we make sure our
windows look good and we’re represented well.”
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It is representing themselves well that
pays off in the long run. According to D’Amico, the
street fair offers the initial introduction that can lead to a
long relationship.
“I can’t tell you how many
people walk in and say, ‘How long have you been
here?’” said D’Amico, who has been at that
location for about 14 years. “People will come back and
say, ‘I saw your shop.’”
For another member of the Lumberyard
business community, the fair is not enjoyed as a profitable
opportunity, but enjoyed nonetheless.
“It certainly doesn’t help our
business in any way,” said Meri Brice, owner of Magical
Child, also located in the Lumberyard on Coast Highway 101.
According to Brice, because the parking lot
is blocked off not only is it hard for potential customers to
get to her shop, it is also hard for her employees to get to
work. Although she doesn’t make a lot of money off of the
fair, she says she still supports it.
“But we love the street fair,”
said Brice. “We advertise for it.”
Although not everyone makes a killing on
the weekend of the street fair, it is possible if not definite
that the exposure opens them up to new business that would
never have come their way.
“A lot of times it’s hard for
the specialty shops but the money, you know, generated from the
street fair makes it so we can do Taste of Main Street and so
that we can do the Safe Trick or Treat. Those events, everyone
loves those,” Rhodes said.
Because of the money made from the street
fair, other business opportunities are generated through DEMA
that benefit the downtown business community. Along with the
ones mentioned by Rhodes, DEMA is working on an upcoming
Fashion Show and a Film Festival. So the money trickles down
for more opportunities to make a little money and have a little
fun.
(include topic in subject line)
North Coast Current: Entire contents Copyright 2008
Reproduction without permission is
prohibited