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Old School Square reports high event attendance, marketing wins and expanded summer campaigns
Summary
Old School Square and DDA staff reported strong March programming (Savor the Avenue, Art on the Square, Dirty Dancing Live), rising social engagement (about 191,000 combined followers) and planned summer marketing including a Brightline co-op campaign tied to the World Cup and three Banwango mobile pass promotions.
Old School Square staff told the DDA that March was a busy month for events and programming and previewed summer marketing plans.
Savor the Avenue: staff said the Savor the Avenue street-dining event seated about 950 guests with 14 restaurants participating and generated $7,000 from restaurant participation fees for the Interfaith Committee for Social Services. The event included a national anthem performance and a judged table-decor contest.
Events and earned revenue: the DDA reported Old School Square revenues for February of about $479,000 versus expenses of $417,065. Art on the Square (a juried fine-art show) generated gross revenue of about $24,943 with estimated net of roughly $9,100 after expenses. Dirty Dancing Live, an outdoor ticketed production, sold nearly 1,000 tickets. Staff noted some weather-related cancellations for outdoor programming but said overall attendance and vendor interest were strong.
Marketing and PR: Emily Oliveros, social media marketing coordinator for the DDA and Old School Square, reported combined social followers of about 191,000 across platforms, 1.2 million impressions in March and email open rates near 49% (far above industry benchmarks). Staff previewed a Toronto auto-show geofencing campaign that produced strong online metrics and a $9,500 Brightline co-op campaign (matched by Discover the Palm Beaches) to run May through July targeting World Cup visitors.
Programming pipeline: Old School Square announced upcoming exhibitions including Rodney Demps (Highwaymen-style landscapes) opening May 1 and a summer lineup of Art & Jazz events, full-moon yoga and other campus activities.
Staff emphasized the need for stable funding to sustain programming and noted the DDA will bring a budget amendment in May to support summer planning.
