It was a busy weekend for members of the Humboldt Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) as they worked on another successful Streetfest.
Coordinator Erin Standish says that even being short volunteers did not put a damper on the amazing weekend with great weather and plenty of people taking in the activities.
“People walking on the street is the biggest indication of success of the event and definitely we had that this year.”
Many local businesses told Standish that they had a great weekend and were very happy with the set up and how the weekend went.
“Each year there’s something that comes up and we think, maybe we can try this and tweaking to meet the needs of the community and our businesses.”
While it does take a while for people to get used to changes, even with the changes brought in this year Standish says a lot of people saw the sense in what was going on with more emphasis put on Friday night events and an early end on Saturday.
“The street was still packed at nine o’clock at night and that’s always what we’re looking for.”
The stage and beer gardens moving down to the north side of Main Street across from Conexus also opened up the south side of Main Street for local vendors and Standish says that the number of vendors went up considerably.
With 50 vendors, Standish says, “it was definitely an increase over other years. Hopefully it will grow.”
One new event this year was the Beer Mile fun run, which was organized by Andy McAnally.
Overall, with very little vomiting and a lot of fun, McAnally was very happy with how the event turned out with good feedback from the participants.
“They really enjoyed it. Lots of fun, lots of energy. People said they’d do it again.”
It is hard to run with four beers worth of carbonation, but runners Terry Shatz and Kurtis Ellis said that belching really helped with the discomfort while they were running.
Next year, McAnally says they may give participants the opportunity to run as a team as well as a solo option for those who are “brave enough.”
The amount of time and money and energy that goes into Streetfest is overwhelming when you look at it, says Standish, but with all the support and participation from the community, it is a fun event and the community enjoys it.
“It makes it all worthwhile and we’re hoping to continue to offer Streetfest to Humboldt over the years,” says Standish.
The Downtown BID is always looking for new ideas and new volunteers so everyone is welcome to contact Standish to lend a hand or an idea.
For more pictures from the weekend, visit Humboldt Journal Photos.
