Community Corner

John Wilton: Promenade Has Grown Exponentially

Chair of the chamber's Merchants Professionals Retailers group thinks weekly event is a tremendous merit badge for the community.

Friday Night Promenade, an initiative approved by the village board in June to help boost sluggish retail sales in the village during the summer, will mark its ninth week Friday.

John Wilton, chair of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce's Merchants Professionals Retailers group, has been instrumental in moving the initiative forward and says the weekly event has grown "exponentially" since its inception, to the point where it's "almost joyful."

Seventh Street businesses like Leo's, Walk Street, Sunflower Fine Arts and TCBY have even asked that it be extended through Sept. 5. "They would like it to continue because they think they will have a captured audience with everybody back in the community," Wilton said.

The drive behind Friday Night Promenade is to help local businesses who often see a drop in sales this time of year, especially in August. It was slow going when the initiative kicked off July 5, as vacationing residents kept Seventh Street quiet. The next two Fridays that followed, driving rain and an oppressive heat wave didn't help matters.

Wilton says the event is now gaining momentum. "I just think it's a tremendous merit badge for our community," he said, adding that if it's marketed differently next year it could become "a benchmark of hospitality in the community."

He acknowledged trustee Dennis Donnelly, village board liaison to the business community, for his work on moving the initiative forward.

Donnelly corrected Wilton, saying, "He didn't assist me. I assisted him. Without John's very hard work, it wouldn't be the overwhelming success that it is."

Donnelly added, "Even some of the early critics on the street have now all of a sudden become converts and are looking forward to reaping the benefits of having all of our neighbors and friends walking up and down the street on Friday nights."

Greg Bavaro, owner of Garden City Pizza, says he isn't looking to ruin something that the residents and business owners are in favor of but he could "take it or leave it."

"The reality for me, as well as most of the residents and business owners that have mentioned and discussed the 'promenade' to me have not been happy with it," he told Patch. "As far as I'm concerned I could take it or leave it in the summer, I feel like a good majority of people are away anyway."

Bavaro said if the weekly event continues into the fall or even spring, he'd be "dead against it." "At that point it will definitely have a negative impact on my business at a time when I certainly cannot afford that," he said.

Referring to a statement trustee Donnelly made in the Garden City News about how the merchants "complaining" about the promenade are not residents of the village and therefore not paying taxes for it, Bavaro disagreed.

"In my case, as with many others, I own my real estate, so I do pay taxes. However, being that I don't reside here I don't get to vote for anything," he said. "Business owners that rent their space, and the reality is, they all pay the village tax. Most of them pay it separately to their landlords and if they don't, their landlords use a portion of their tenants' rent to pay these taxes."

The promenade will continue Friday on Seventh Street between 6-10 p.m. Musical acts to be announced later this week. Please note Seventh Street will be closed to all vehicular traffic beginning at 5:45 p.m.


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