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Leavenworth Chamber reports small drop in downtown pedestrian traffic; ambassador program expands countywide
Summary
At a Leavenworth City Council meeting, the Chamber reported a roughly 6–8% year-over-year decline in downtown pedestrian counts, updates on an expanded recreation ambassador program, distribution of a member service directory, and fundraising plans using public carvings.
Leavenworth — The Leavenworth Chamber told the City Council that downtown pedestrian traffic is down roughly 6 to 8 percent compared with last year, and that the chamber has expanded its recreation ambassador program into Chelan County.
The chamber update, delivered by Troy at the council meeting, said pedestrian counts for the five months tracked this year were mixed: ‘‘3 out of 5 months, we have been down over the previous year. April, we were up a bit. January, we were incredibly up,’’ Troy said. He summarized the overall change as ‘‘about a 6 to 8% decrease in overall pedestrian traffic downtown, compared to last year.’’
The update matters because downtown visitation and pedestrian patterns affect local businesses and how the city plans public events and upkeep. The chamber emphasized outreach and visitor services as part of its response to the change in counts.
Troy described operational steps the chamber has taken: repackaging the Bavarian Bulletin to a Monday distribution that both previews the week and recaps weekends; running an expanded recreation ambassador pilot that will include Entiat Valley and three trailheads in a second phase in the Wenatchee area; and publishing a printed member service directory to distribute within ZIP code 98826. ‘‘We just published a member service directory…It will be distributed around the 98826 area code and will be available for anyone to share with their businesses,’’ Troy said.
The chamber also reported a fundraising effort called ‘‘Carvings for Causes,’’ with five carved sculptures placed around town and bidding open through July 31. Proceeds are intended for the Leavenworth Mountain Association to support human-waste mitigation and for Chelan County Mountain Rescue. Troy said three bids had already been placed.
Troy noted a temporary change in marketing following a recent local tragedy: ‘‘immediately when we found out about that, we paused all assets that were promoting hiking and things like that…we're not sending out any imagery of hiking trails or things like that in any of the advertising or social media posts.’’
Councilmembers thanked Troy for the update; no council action or formal votes resulted from the chamber report. The chamber said it will continue weekly ambassador reporting in the Bavarian Bulletin and follow up with city staff as needed.
Details not specified at the meeting included the precise monthly counts by date and the budgetary figures for the ambassador expansion and the printed directory.
