There is always a need for things to happen in a downtown around Christmas in order to spur year-end sales. It is hard for a downtown to compete with big box stores or the chain stores that are located in malls. People try to shop in the downtown central business district as a way of securing alternative goods that are not part of the homogenized offerings of the chains and the big box stores.

One way of getting people to the downtown during the holiday season is by holding a series of promotions. I have heard that a Christmas parade brings many people to the downtown but does nothing for sales. I never have found this to be the case. People who come to the downtown for a Christmas parade usually spend something, even if it is for a hot chocolate or a hand warmer. 

A more successful tool though is the winter festival held in the downtown that is not reliant on people lining the streets. I have seen fire and ice festivals, winter carnivals and many variations of festivals that bring people downtown. When you have a festival, it is an easy going pedestrian experience with the structure, and people tend to mill around and hang out in the stores.

I created the Downingtown Christmas parade and watched it grow as an event throughout the years. I remember that having people decorate the trees in store windows was a part of the festive activities before the advent of a Christmas parade.  The Christmas parade just made things better.

In Phoenixville, I created the firebird festival after a meeting of the arts and entertainment committee decided they wanted to burn a bird. At that point, the people of Phoenixville were willing to do pretty much anything to revitalize. In a way it was like Coatesville or Pottstown, revitalization was always right around the corner but no one shopped there and people avoided the downtown if possible. So, when I brought the committee’s idea to the council to get approval no one really cared if we were having a bonfire in the downtown.

Fast forward to this year. The two of the places that the firebird festival was held in the past either have been developed or are undergoing development and since last year, the festival has been held at friendship field. The festival had become a victim of it’s own success. When it was the only reason to come downtown during Christmas for a few years it had spurred the development, which made it lose its spot. 

The organizers did not forget the roots of the festival and many of the activities were held in the downtown and it was a boost to the Christmas sales, which had a positive affect on local business sales. Everyone associated with the festival had the best intentions of keeping a portion of the festival in the downtown to spur sales. The problem came with the remote location of the bird for the past two years.

This year someone took it upon himself or herself to burn the bird a day early. A 3:30 AM fire destroyed the work of the volunteers before it could work to the benefit of all.  So the bird was a victim of a senseless prank that threatened to ruin not only the festival but also all of the downtown sales associated with the festival. This could have been a tremendous loss for the community but the volunteers stepped up and built another bird in a couple of hours through the outpouring of donations, good will and volunteer effort.

The effort saved Phoenixville’s Christmas, maybe not so much from the sales it generated but more from the sense of community that it fostered. I was happy to see that the organizers decided to have the festival, but not so much for the actual festival but more for the spirit of the effort. If through the act of vandalism, there had been nothing going on that night, it would have impacted the spirit of the revitalization more than any loss of sales.

It is the pride that you take in your community. It is the attention to detail that a community puts forth that makes the town thrive. I hear a lot about how towns that have ne’er do wells in the downtown and people do not want to go there.  But…. but… when you have a couple of thousand people in the downtown for a parade or a festival no one notices them. Events can cure a lot of ills. In this case, the festival not only is curing the ills but adding a sense of ownership of the downtown and the community across the entire region.

It is when people come together to accomplish something that results happen. It is okay to pin your hopes and dreams on a couple of projects that will turn things around, but it is when the adversity strikes and people respond in a positive manner that you know that you are succeeding.