Their part of the 'green'
MITCHELL BONDS/Press Janet Bettancourt helps her dog, Chloe, cool down in a pool at the “Doggie Cooling Station,” hosted by the Power of the Paw animal rescue, at the Downtown Association’s Street Fair on Sunday.
MITCHELL BONDS/Press Passersby cool off in a mist sprayer at a booth at the Downtown Association’s Street Fair on Sunday.
MITCHELL BONDS/Press From front left, Isaac McCarty, 9; Brody Dobbs, 7; Elijah McCarty, 7; and Janelle McCarty of Snoqualmie, Wash., enjoy a Taste of Coeur d’Alene with elephant ears, ice cream, and lemonade. In the background, Rick Bennett chows down on some frech fries.
MITCHELL BONDS/Press Members of “The No Going Back Band” from left, Dani Meeks, Amanda Poulos and Mikayla Ludiker perform at the Lakeside Bandshell for the listening enjoyment of patrons of Taste of Coeur d’Alene on Sunday.
MITCHELL BONDS/Press Sophie Smee gets her face painted by Todd Rima, co-owner of People Painters, at the Downtown Association’s Street Fair on Sunday. “We were just talking about how it’s been so nice this summer without all the smoke, and now this,” said Sophie’s mother, Jamie.
MITCHELL BONDS/Press After some explanation from Chris Johnson, left, of the Coeur d’Alene Press, Robert and Kim Torres subscribed to The Press at the Downtown Association’s Street Fair on Sunday, making them some of our newest customers.
What happens when competition is on your doorstep? When the sun beats down and you have to chew the air before you breathe it?
If you're a downtown Coeur d'Alene business the answer is: you thrive.
"We've had really good traffic," Beth Brown of the Blackwell Gallery said. She views the Downtown Association's annual Street Fair as a chance to draw in customers, rather than worry about the competing artwork being shown a few blocks away at Art on the Green. "We've used the heat totally to our advantage."
Members of the Downtown Association had right of first refusal when it came to having a booth on the street in front of their business, Brown said, and she took advantage of that.
"We took two booths and made kind of a living room setup, a home atmosphere to display the art," Brown said. The wooden tables and canvas walls in her booths were all decorated with works made by local artists and available in the gallery, with the intent to draw customers past the booths and into the gallery itself. "We tried to get one of each of our artists' pieces out here, so that's about 25 pieces," she added.
And the results?
"We've sold as much as I'd have sold otherwise," Brown said. "It's been a good weekend. We took a lemon and made lemonade."
Even with vendors out front hawking the same things, downtown businesses like Mrs. Honeypeeps sweet shop have done quite well during the August events trifecta of the street fair, Art on the Green, and Taste of Coeur d'Alene.
"It's the air conditioning," Austin Sommer, son of Mrs. Honeypeeps owners Brett and Susan Sommer, said of the foot traffic. "I think it might be people getting out of the heat. And it's definitely the huckleberries."
Austin and a full crew of workers had their hands full serving specialty sweets, cold drinks and colder ice cream to overheated fairgoers. "They know where to get the good stuff. That and slush puppies," he added, touting his favorite slushy summertime drink.
"(The street fair) always has a bit of an impact," Austin said. "After 10 years you start knowing what all is where, like there's always the lemonade and the ice cream stands. I was kind of surprised about the toy booth in front of our store, though."
Indeed, it's one thing to have distracting booths in front of your store, and quite another to have direct competition there. "Uncle Stinky's," a toy and novelty booth, was situated directly in front of Figpickels Toy Emporium.
"I have no idea what happened there," said Devin Sommer, Austin's brother. Brett and Susan Sommer also own Figpickels. "I'm gonna take a picture and ask the downtown association about it. It's been an ordinary weekend for us, but Uncle Stinky's has been bad for morale."
Devin figures the placement wasn't malicious.
"It's just something to be mindful of," he said. "I think it was a careless mistake; I don't think anyone was out to get us."
Even without the competing vendor, as Figpickels is very much a hands-on toy store, sometimes more traffic isn't necessarily good, Devin said.
"Traditionally (the Street Fair) hasn't been too great for us, the traffic doesn't always translate to sales," he said. "A bunch of people walk through to get to the mall, opening boxes and stuff, causing maximum damage."
But still, "It was still a pretty normal day for us," Devin decided.
When it's not direct competition, though, some local merchants take the street fair as an opportunity.
"We've seen a lot of vendors come in, and a lot of locals. We just met a great vendor kitty-corner from us that we're going to start carrying," Danelle Reagan, owner of Vault Coffee Co., said. "Inland Candle Company. They make homemade candles with recycled glass and soy and all that stuff people like, so we might be able to sell some of them."
And as for their business during this weekend, it's being going strong as well — the sun and smoke are preferable to rain, Reagan said.
"It's one of the busier weekends, and we stocked up for it," Reagan said. "They said last year it rained on Sunday and people gave up and sought shelter. If the weather was bad, it'd be a bummer. But we've been fortunate to have dry weather this year."
"People look forward to this all year long," she added. "It really showcases Coeur d'Alene."