Not just yet, though. Until there's time, here is the Tribune “jeer.” As you're reading, bear these thoughts in mind:
Is there any chance at all of unity among proponents of downtown, especially its mercantile class, or will parochial self-interest always trump singularity of purpose?
If there is even a chance of unity, who or what can a majority of forward thinking proponents trust to lead it?
If petty self-interest always carries the day, then can we expect to succeed as an entity without there being an ultimate, shared, desired outcome?
Are all downtown merchants equal, or are some longstanders more equal than the others?
TRIBUNE CHEERS & JEERS: Sept. 30, 2009
JEERS... to a very few downtown New Albany business owners. Good sources confirm to The Tribune that a small group complained about how their businesses would suffer by having the Harvest Homecoming parade re-routed down Pearl Street. The parade will now end at Bank as it has in previous years instead of going to Pearl. The committee wanted to change the route to get more people familiar with the businesses along Pearl and in the downtown area. How much will business be hurt? People not attending the parade know to stay away from the downtown area at that time. So a change seems like it would help bring potential customers to the area. Businesses could capitalized by running special parade deals or promotions.
Harvest Homecoming is New Albany’s premier event of the year and downtown businesses should work together with the festival.
10 comments:
I'm not too up to date on this particular jeer, but I do believe there's a long discussion needed on how Harvest helps all downtown businesses. I wrote a story last year, and received a lot of heat especially from some DNA members, about how some business owners felt Harvest hurt their business due to vendors blocking their entrances. Many even shutdown during Harvest, while mainly out of town vendors make pretty good money.
Some I talked to thought it was a worthy sacrifice, others did not. I can see both sides, as usual. Obviously bars profit big time during the event, especially on Friday, but I doubt many other businesses do. Am I wrong?
www.newsandtribune.com/archivesearch/local_story_284110127.html
I've heard the mayor say he wants to move HH to Main street next year so that these businesses can stay open and be a part of the festival. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I agree that HH needs to make some adjustments to accommodate downtown businesses but I think that what's at issue in this case is that they at least tried and were rejected by a small contingent of business owners with little inclusive decision making.
If the needed discussion Daniel mentions is going to take place, then downtown businesses are going to have to provide a unified front and a central point of communication.
HH can't really negotiate substantive changes with every business owner individually if they all have different suggestions. Some form of consensus among the business owners and a democratic mechanism for reaching it will be necessary in order to avoid personal conflict.
Or so says the guy with no skin in this particular game...I'm just a customer.
The customer is always right.
Any bands playing at the Brewhouse this time around?
Daniel S. - look forward to an update this year on the pros and cons of HH.
Personally, I'm leaving town for the duration, cause I hate it. It turns an already beat-up downtown into one with piles of garbage. The level of overt drinking and the attendant "gone-to-far" subset make the whole neighborhood feel under siege.
The Festival, like the parade is so tired, it depresses me thinking about it all. I hope someday it can evolve into a truly local harvest festival. A real agricultural festival showcasing our counties finest homegrown product.
Instead of cute little children and goats, apple-bobbing and sausages and beer - my senses are assaulted by deep-fried candy bars, biker chicks, chinese-made crap vendors, and some of the most hideous "food' wagons since the Korean war.
Oh, but I like the Main St switch idea so the besieged downtown businesses can also share in the joy. It would also traffic clam Main St big-time during the booth days! whoopee!
"Instead of cute little children and goats, apple-bobbing and sausages and beer - my senses are assaulted by deep-fried candy bars, biker chicks, chinese-made crap vendors, and some of the most hideous "food' wagons since the Korean war."
As distasteful as the entire ordeal may seem, it would appear that each year hundreds of thousands tend to disagree.
The cheaply made trinket booths do tend to bother me some, as I can remember a time when it was local artists selling their wares, along with local craftsmen.
However true that is, is it still down to the fact that the cheap trinket sellers are the ones buying the booth space.
Trends come and go, and as the HH has devolved into the cheap trinket market, it will again re-evolve to local artisans.
I know what a pain in the rump the whole thing can be, but think of the totality of the event before being so harse on it.
Much of the Culbertson mansions money comes from the haunted carriage house during HH, the money raised by the churches downtown for paid parking, plus the money that is put into our local economy with visitors and residents stopping at local stores on the way in and out of the HH.
Could it be more celebratory of our local individualism, sure, but I think that is up to the HH committee to oversee.
And in my big jab to the HH, BRING BACK THE PHOTO CONTEST DAMMIT!
" hope someday it can evolve into a truly local harvest festival. A real agricultural festival showcasing our counties finest homegrown product."
As a first timer last year, that's what I expected it to be. In Portland, Tenn., where I used to work, we had a Strawberry Festival each year that was based on local agriculture. I'm not going to say I love the harvest or hate it, but I didn't really see it as that big of a deal. I guess it's basically like most festivals...live music, vendors and some pretty good food. I was amazed at how many people came for it.
I was having lunch the other day with a former mayor. He told me that back in the early years of the festival his administration tried to get them to move the booths to the middle of the street back to back facing the storefronts.
A few years back the state changed fire codes and would probably make this impossible today.
One word: Fairgrounds.
I second that.
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