PORT TOWNSEND — The year of 2018 was one fraught with challenges for Port Townsend retailers, said the executive director of the Main Street Program.
But the the business community was remarkably resilient, said Mari Mullen, who has served as the executive director of the Port Townsend Main Street Program for the past 20 years.
“We got through them,” she said. “We had planned for the Water Street Enhancement Project impact, so we raised money and we kept the interest focused on downtown.”
The $2.7 million project, which began Jan. 2 and continued through early July, aimed to replace aging infrastructure, improve drainage, add streetscape improvements and lay the groundwork for undergrounding utilities.
Given the months of road and sidewalk construction, local businesses fared well, even better than anticipated, Mullen said.
The weekends made up for the losses of foot traffic during the week, she added.
“We had a couple of businesses close, but they did so for multiple reasons that were not necessarily related to construction,” Mullen said.
“Some smaller stores closed their PT location, but opened in another town. Others were brave enough to begin new businesses during the construction.
“The weekends were pretty frisky,” she added. “We had several marketing campaigns. It was a big effort by everybody to keep the energy downtown.”
Part of the commercial success this year, Mullen said, was hosting the Washington State Main Street Program’s conference in the middle of construction project.
Water Street, the main street, was filled with construction vehicles, holes in the ground, noise and dirt everywhere and she wanted to let attendees experience first-hand how a town can work through a potential economic disaster.
Mullen had faith it would all work out.
“We actually pitched the Main Street Conference to come see construction in progress and then come back when it’s done. We were lucky to have them pick Port Townsend.”
She said the conference broke attendance records.
“They never had so many attendees at a conference. We had 320 people come, and the economic impact was double of what they had anticipated. They thought it would bring $75,000 to town and it was actually $139,000 over three days.”
Next year, the national Main Street Now conference will be held in Seattle on March 25-27. Mullen said she’s developed a marketing plan to encourage attendees to take a day trip to Port Townsend. Over 2,000 people will attend the Seattle conference and they will be looking for interesting places to visit, she said.
This week, the Main Street program will host its final merchant coffee talk of the year, with a program about customer service and updates from the Jefferson County Public Utility District and city projects. Holiday campaigns will be discussed and updates will be provided on Main Street projects.
One of those projects is the Give Jefferson/United Good Neighbor’s campaign. Main Street hopes to raise funds to purchase sets of colorful street furniture for outside the Cotton Building Plaza, Tyler Street Plaza, the Bell Tower, the Haller Fountain and the upcoming Washington Street sidewalk.
Mullen said this will create spaces to make connections and create a sense of belonging.
Mullen has placed 8,000 informational rack cards on three ferry routes and contracted for radio and newspaper advertising throughout the holiday season.
A large lighted display ad about Port Townsend is now in the Alaska Airlines terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Mullen said the location is perfect, right next to Starbucks.
“There’s always a line there, so hopefully a lot of people will see it.”
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.
