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Main Street director reports strong event turnout, social-media growth and fall plans including mule rides and Taste of Winnsboro
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Summary
Main Street Director Carolyn Stout told the Winnsboro Main Street Advisory Board that August brought a television appearance, a movie screening and a "Big Wheel Bash" with roughly 750–800 attendees; she also reported large social-media growth, ordered fall decorations and outlined mule rides for cowboy weekend and the Taste of Winnsboro on Oct. 4.
Carolyn Stout, director of Winnsboro Main Street, told the advisory board that August was a busy month for the organization, highlighting a television appearance on KETK, a movie screening with 102 attendees and a large "Big Wheel Bash" that she estimated attracted about 750 people and "with the margin of error, we could have easily had 800 people at that event."
Stout said the event included an economic-vitality component: 26 merchants participated in a downtown scavenger-style activity tied to the event and several children completed the full merchant route; the organization plans to award small prizes to those who completed it. "We really kind of embedded some economic vitality attempt in the 20 third of the day by giving each of the merchants a bag of cars," she said.
Stout reported significant social-media growth: "At the time of the publication of this report, our views on our social media account were up 280% over the last 90 days, and we were at 217,548 views on our account." She also said follower counts were "right at 5,000 people following us." The board did not provide supporting analytics beyond Stout's remarks.
Looking ahead, Stout said fall decorations and streetscape materials have been ordered and will be distributed to participating businesses; she said the organization had ordered medium-sized pumpkins and hay bales for merchants who want to decorate downtown. She said deliveries were expected in late September and, if delivery clashed with cowboy-weekend activities, the materials would be held at the farm and retrieved by the city later.
Stout described plans the board is sponsoring for cowboy weekend: mule rides with two mules, Gus and Woodrow, will run from the farmers market from 10 a.m. to noon and then operate on the north side of Highway 11 from noon to 2 p.m.; "they won't be crossing 11 after 12:00 noon," she said. She said Main Street has sponsored wagon and signage materials for the rides and would place sandwich boards near Elm and Walnut.
Stout also outlined Taste of Winnsboro, scheduled for Oct. 4. She said VIP tickets cost $50 and admit holders at 4:30 p.m.; general admission is $35 and admits holders at 5 p.m.; the event runs until 9 p.m. She said organizers expect this to be an annual event and that the Taste of Winnsboro is organized as a separate entity with its own bank account, Facebook page and email addresses.
Board members discussed volunteers and committee support for autumn events and the Christmas parade; Stout asked committees to consider how Main Street might participate in the Chamber's Dec. 11 parade and other holiday activities.
Stout closed by asking members to think about February programming and an indoor Valentine's Day dinner the organization could host, noting possible venues and that more planning would follow in future meetings.
