November 2023 Downtown Meet Up Minutes

Published:

November 15, 2023

Category:

Downtown Development Division

Contact:

Telia Butler - 270-393-3617

Location:

Bowling Green, KY

The November 2023 Downtown Meet Up was hosted at East Main BG, on Wednesday, November 8, 3-4pm. Here are the Minutes from that meeting.

 

1.  Downtown BGKY Harvest Festival & Scare on the Square quick recap - Harvest Fest on October 14 saw 12,000+ people attend. Scare on the Square on October 28 had at least 7,000 attendees.

 

2.  WKU Homecoming – Nov 10 & 11; alumni.wku.edu/homecoming; parade returning to Downtown coming down College Street the wrong way thru Fountain Square. Businesses have the opportunity to participate in a passport put together by WKU Alumni Association team and Fountain Row businesses to receive a limited quantity of special WKU Homecoming 2023 half koozies for Fountain Row cups to be sold with during this weekend. Veterans theme and window decorating contest.

 

3.  Veterans Day parade is the morning of November 11. This should not interfere with WKU Homecoming football game.

 

4.  Downtown BGKY Discount Cards for Ky Travel Industry Assoc event Nov 8-11 and Ky Parks & Rec Society event Nov 14-18 are here.

 

5.  Light Up BGKY website and social media are live here. Check them for more holiday lights to see throughout the community all season long. There are over 15 events over 7 days from November 27 thru December 3.

 

6.  Downtown BGKY Lights Up – Friday, Dec 1; 5-8pm at Fountain & Circus Squares, SKyPAC, and SoKY Ice Rink; the weeklong holiday window decorating contest will be live November 25 thru December 2. Please let Telia know by November 17 if your business intends to participate in the contest – and do all the businesses participating want to throw a gift card into a prize package to then split between their staff for the holidays if they win? Telia will once again set up a Survey Monkey voting system and provide the participating businesses with a QR code and link to share on their socials and with customers onsite encouraging votes, with the winner being announced on Christmas Parade day. Closing College block at SKyPAC & Circus Square Park, closing Main Ave, from 12-9pm at both locations. Food trucks at CSP and SOKY, Warren County Rec games on Main + kettle queen. Encourage sidewalk sales and window decorating to get people in doors.

 

7.  Karen Foley brought a calendar of major events that impact Downtown now thru December, traffic impacts are to be expected from these. Bookmark the City’s traffic impact map section here and Telia will also be sharing in GroupMe, on Downtown BGKY socials, and on City of BG socials. When reading this list, the Downtown Merchants asked for a digital version to not miss any details:

 

Nov. 8-10: Kentucky Travel Industry Association conference in BG (Telia)

*Nov. 10: WKU Homecoming Parade **Traffic impact with new route**

*Nov. 11: Veterans Day Parade **Traffic impact with new date**

Nov. 14-17: Kentucky Recreation & Parks Society conference in BG (Cameron)

Nov. 27-Dec. 2: Light Up BGKY featuring daily/nightly lighting events around the community

*Nov. 30: Light UP the Depot at Historic RailPark

*Dec. 1: Downtown Lights Up! **Traffic impact**

*Dec. 2: Christmas Parade **Traffic impact**

 

8. Southern Queen and Moses properties – 2 proposals were received, 1 from Bellvue Properties and 1 from Rob Jones Builders. City is gathering the evaluation committee for objectivity now.

 

9. Projecting signage procurement pricing and design has been designated top priority for parking structure signage phase one.

 

10. Next Duncan Hines Days group meeting is Thurs, November 16, 9:30am at NCS. Invite a DM rep to attend and add to calendar recurring monthly.

 

**this will be the last Downtown Meet Up of 2023. Last December, we all had such busy schedules that it wasn’t going to work out. We will resume again on January 10, 2024, 3-4pm, at a location TBD. Will update everyone in the GroupMe with a new location.  

The following was sent to downtown businesses participating in WKU Homecoming activities from WKU Alumni:

We are one week away from Fun on Fountain Row and WKU’s Homecoming Festivities! “Big Red, White and Blue” parade will roll down College Street beginning at 5:30 PM on Friday, November 10 with Fun on Fountain Row beginning at 4:00 PM.  We hope you will share in the fun, festive downtown atmosphere beginning at 4:00 PM.

Logistics:

1. Parade Route – 5:30 PM Cherry Hall to Fountain Square with anticipated arrival downtown at 6:00
2. Street Closures –

10:00 AM – Parking spaces in front of the Capitol will be reserved for stage and sound set up, but Main Street will be open to through traffic.

Street	Closes to thru traffic	Opens
Main Street	12:00 PM	10:00 PM
Park Row	1:30 PM	10:00 PM
College Street	5:10 PM	6:30 PM or sooner when parade ends

 

Friday Fun on Fountain Row Event Day:

3:30 PM – Park Row- Food Trucks set up and ready to roll.

4:00 PM-6:00 PM – Fun on Fountain Row—Passport Adventure, Window Decoration voting, DeeJay, etc.
                Stage set up will be in the area of the Capitol marquee with check in tables adjacent.
Retailers: With this festival atmosphere, it might be beneficial to have some sort of presence outside of your business.

6:30 PM – Big Red’s Roar community pep rally-

We will be promoting staying Downtown and enjoying the Fountain Row District after Big Red’s Roar.