By Justin Aufdermauer
Executive Director
Spring is only four weeks away (or less if you follow the Groundhog) and with it comes better weather; weather perfect for walking and enjoying our downtown.
Just in time for spring, we have revamped and relaunched our Downtown Walking Map which highlights the downtown Main Street District. It had been a few years since the map had been given any fresh life, and we felt it was time to shake it up a bit. The new map is larger, easier to read, and conveniently folds up to travel with you. The map highlights many downtown events and has been refreshed with new photography that showcases the places, people, and events that make Tillamook special.
The purpose of the Downtown Walking Map has always been to encourage visitors and others shopping downtown to see what else is around them. Once you’ve parked the car to take a closer look at something you saw in the window of Madeline’s Vintage Market Place, you might be encouraged to keep shopping if you are aware of what else lies within a few blocks. Vintage clothing store? You got it! Fresh flower arrangements? Of course! A bite to eat? Take your pick!
To further support the downtown Main Street District, we are also launching a new quarterly rack card that highlights what’s happening downtown each quarter. This quarter’s card just arrived last week and highlights dates and times of things like Art Walk, Mornings on Main Street, Sip + Shop, and our other regular downtown events. As the year progresses, we will include things like the Tillamook Farmers Market, Second on Second Street events, Small Business Saturday, Moonlight Madness and more.
I challenge you, locals, to pick these items up at a downtown store or at the Chamber Visitor Center and take a look. Get downtown, support your local businesses and I bet you even find a few businesses that surprise you once you walk in! Grab the quarterly event calendar and hit up some downtown events. Actually, grab a few while you’re at it and give it to the next person that says “there is nothing to do.” Things are happening; you just have to join in. Steffen Aalykke joined in this winter and came away $1,000 richer after winning our Downtown Sweepstakes!
The Tillamook Main Street District is an important part of our local economy and we focus a lot of our efforts within this district as an affiliate. If you are a downtown business, please help us stay abreast of what community events are happening downtown by emailing sayde@tillamookchamber.org. You can also email her to request cards and maps for your business.
We love downtown, but there is so much more to the area. I still encourage folks to visit tillamookchamber.com/events to look for things happening in their area. And if you are hosting a meeting, event, speaker series, or anything open to the public you can submit your event for free. This calendar is used on over a dozen websites in the County and is sure to build traction around your event. I also have it under good authority that it is the only calendar that our local radio stations use for their newscasts, so if you want the added publicity it is a great way to get more traction around your event.