Canal Street going ‘retail’ for the summer

Local News

March 18, 2010

By Joyce Miles Lockport Union-Sun & Journal The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Thu Mar 18, 2010, 01:21 AM EDT

LOCKPORT — Lockport Main Street Inc. is taking over Canal Street this summer to organize outdoor vending and entertainment for tourists.

The Common Council on Wednesday designated the not-for-profit organization Canal Street Manager for 2010 and gave it permission to use the street, and city-held buildings, and provide retail/commercial activity there between June 1 and Sept. 1.

Main Street Program Director Heather Peck is planning to recruit local vendors of food, drink and tourist paraphernalia and have them set up along the street, which overlooks the Erie Canal between Church and Pine streets, daily. She’ll also line up local musicians/bands and other performers to take turns entertaining visitors at the Performance Pavilion.

Main Street Inc. and Niagara County Historical Society/Erie Canal Discovery Center surveyed visitors to the city last year to learn what brought them to Lockport and their opinion of its offerings. For the Main Street Program, some questions were designed to determine how much visitors are utilizing downtown.

“What we found is people were really hungry for information about what there is to do in Lockport,” Peck said. “We think there is an opportunity here. If we can get the tourists to come over (to Canal Street), we can put brochures and maps in their hands; get them over to the museum and other attractions, get them onto Main Street, shopping, trying our local restaurants. ... We want to be a welcoming community. We want give people reasons to come back.”

Vendors and performers will be authorized/scheduled by Peck after approval of a Main Street Program committee. Vendors have to be licensed with the City of Lockport. Performers ideally will be volunteers who want to showcase a talent. Main Street Inc. may recruit a few paid acts for the pavilion but, Peck said, “three months is a long time. We have a lot of blanks to fill.”

Vendors and performers interested in getting on the schedule should call Peck at 434-0212 or send her an e-mail at lockportmainstreet@verizon.net.

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