Labour Day street fair gets axe

TANYA FOUBERT CANMORE

After receiving responses to a survey on whether street fairs are benefiting downtown businesses, the final one scheduled for 2010 has been cancelled.

Hugh Tafel, chair of the downtown Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ), confirmed last week the Sept. 4 street fair to be held on Labour Day weekend has received the axe.

The recent survey showed 58.3 per cent of respondents (a total of 48 members of the BRZ) wanted the final fair of the season cancelled compared to 41.6 per cent that wanted it to go forward.

“The primary reason is the majority of businesses participating in street fairs on the long weekend experienced a decrease in sales and that is opposite of our purpose,” Tafel said. “It was not an easy decision, but in the end the board needed to make a decision and it was based on what members are telling us.”

He said most businesses in the downtown area have experienced difficulty in this economy finding staff on long weekends, let alone staffing an added booth along Main Street or at Civic Centre Plaza.

While not providing the benefit to members the BRZ had envisioned, Tafel added the events were great for an increase in traffic and recognition from a long-term marketing perspective.

In the future, he added, the BRZ will look to organize events not on long weekends and try to move them to the shoulder season.

The survey saw a 58.3 per cent response rate from retailers, 16.6 per cent from restaurants and 16.6 per cent from offices.

When asked if street fairs have benefited their business, only 22.9 per cent responded yes while 50 per cent said no and 27 per cent indicated there was no change.

Asked if they should be held on long weekends, 70.8 per cent said no and 25 per cent said yes.

When it came to bringing in vendors that compete with BRZ members, 70.8 per cent indicated that should not occur, while 14.5 per cent said it should.

Asked if the BRZ should support other events, 58.3 per cent said yes while 39.5 per cent said no.

Finally, when asked if street fairs should be held at all, 62.5 per cent responded they should be while 37.5 per cent said no.

At the same time, the municipality has relocated its weekly Thursday Mountain Market from beside the Miner’s Union Hall to Civic Centre Plaza.

“The Mountain Market has taken off and that kind of replaces what we were doing,” Tafel said.

The proposed 2011 draft budget for the BRZ includes $25,000 for street fairs along with $7,000 in sponsorship for other events like Canada Day, which the association has supported financially in the past.

Tafel said the organization will have to determine how it will move forward next year and it will likely include some form of street fair like the one held during artsPeak, which was considered good for 31.2 per cent of businesses (39.5 per cent still responded it was not good for business while 29.1 per cent indicated there was no change).

But it is a process underway to look at the organization of all groups and organizations related to tourism that Tafel pointed to as something that will affect future events.

As part of the economic development and tourism strategy the Canmore Economic Development Authority (CEDA) has hired a contractor to look at those organizational relationships with respect to the strategy’s action items.

That includes the BRZ along with Tourism Canmore Kananaskis, the Destination Marketing Fund and the Canmore Hotel and Lodging Association.

“There is a strong desire from all parties to coordinate events like this,” Tafel said. “We want to coordinate this stuff with other organizations and we will have better combined budgets to promote them.”

He said the street fairs in 2010 were a test and the board received results that were good and results that were not but despite that it will continue to strive to foster a vibrant downtown, which is its mandate.

“How we do that we have to figure out… but members do not want us to stop trying,” he added.