Main Street staff reported higher‑than‑expected turnout for recent festivals and said the board has contracted Placer AI to provide geofencing analytics for tourism and events.

The director said the cowboy gathering drew between 1,200 and 1,500 people a day based on Placer AI pulling historical data, and that the service provides zip‑code reports to track where visitors come from. "I signed the contract, actually Mackenzie signed the contract. I presented it to her on Monday," the director said; she added the system can produce year‑over‑year comparisons and historical data dating back as available in the vendor’s data sets.

Autumn Trails events (tractor pull, Taste of Winnsboro and a 5K and a 0.05K for assisted‑living participants) were described as successful, with merchants collaborating on food and entertainment. The director said one planned special‑needs horse activity was canceled for lack of volunteers, and she encouraged Main Street board members to volunteer for events, noting name tags had been ordered for board members to wear when helping downtown.

On decorations, the director said about 5,500 pounds of pumpkins were delivered downtown along with corn husks and hay bales and that volunteers placed seasonal decor. She told the board she will contact the FFA chair at the high school to offer the pumpkins to students for animal feed; "if they don't need them, we'll open it up to local ranchers to come get whatever they need," she said. The director also proposed repurposing hay bales as seating near the Christmas tree and discussed options for timing the tree lighting so parade participants could attend.

The police department is scheduled to sponsor a 12‑day reading program at the Christmas tree site in the run‑up to the holidays; details were not fully fleshed out in the meeting. Board members raised concerns about "event fatigue" and the close sequencing of autumn events into the holiday season; one member suggested allowing 30 minutes to 1 hour between the parade and tree lighting so parade participants can return and watch the lighting.

No formal board votes on the geofencing contract or the pumpkin disposition are recorded in the provided transcript; staff said the geofencing service will be available for departments across the city and that staff will supply event analytics to the board.