Now that Memorial Day has passed, the community is welcoming and bracing for our influx of tourists. Many a business is glad of that transition, after the doldrums of April.
We have been spending time talking about supporting our businesses, especially in the downtown district. There are more events, programs, signage and information that is coming on board to help us navigate the summer downtown.
There are some great opportunities for your business and your employees to gain lots of tourism knowledge, and a chance to earn extra money, marketing and exposure for your business as a Certified Tourism Ambassador Business. You will receive window and electronic decals identifying your business, and you are encouraged to promote your business as a tourism ambassador.
Contact Jennie Green at sales@visitpagosasprings.com or Mary Jo Coulehan at director@pagosachamber.com
Driving downtown you will see some green feather flags indicating “Business Access”. These banners are meant to help direct traffic to some of those businesses set back from the highway or at entrances on the highway where it may be hard to see where the turn in is. We will be assessing these banners and determining the best placement.
There is also signage for pedestrians to better direct them to the appropriate crosswalks. This signage will be visible from the Overlook parking area, at crosswalks and to crosswalks from various points around the downtown area. Look for the little purple walking icon. Some of the pedestrian signage will actually be on the sidewalks.
In addition, the Visitor Center has cards that indicate where the parking areas are and where the Mountain Express Transit (MET) routes are. Please be aware that the MET will have shuttle service in the downtown area with routes from the various parking lots including west of the Library, south of The Springs Resort and from the Mary Fisher Park area, which also includes the parking at the base of Reservoir Hill.
Does your business have these cards readily available for your clients, especially the businesses on the west side of town, including restaurants and lodging facilities? Give these cards out to customers to better inform our visitors and help them avoid the confusion once they get downtown. Come and pick up these cards or contact us at the Chamber and we will get them to your business. We are also looking at additional signage to more clearly mark our larger parking lots.
Right now, there are public parking signs. Weighing how much signage is too much signage in conjunction with the required Colorado Department of Transportation signage is a thin line between distraction and information. However, we want to make our downtown navigational.
In the next few weeks, the Tourism Department and the Chamber will be contacting and visiting your business to secure some video footage. The Town and Tourism Department will be creating a video that will be available through various media sources highlighting sections of the downtown area and promoting that we are open for business. They will be creating a video that will be displayed and changed out every few weeks highlighting different segments of the downtown district.
We’ll be taking outdoor or entrance shots, inside shots, shots of some of your merchandise, people and other promotional scenes. If your business already has a video that you display or loop, could you add this video and loop it in to promote the downtown district and Pagosa Springs? We are looking to visit the 400 block of downtown at the end of the week around June 6. There will be more to come on this endeavor soon. Watch for an informational email from the Chamber of Commerce.
For the public, the downtown businesses are also looking at special shopping evenings, wine walks and other fun events to encourage you to support our establishments and shop local.
Together we will have a great summer season downtown and in Pagosa Springs.