Richmond, KY - The Richmond Downtown Association has partnered with local businesses in downtown Richmond on and around Main Street to create a weekly Thursday Night Live event to help promote business and draw customers out for a night on the town. The first Thursday Night Live event in Richmond was held Thursday, April 25. Local restaurants and retail stores were included, such as DSP The Studio, Currier Music, Purdy’s Coffee Co., Babylon Café, Mike’s Bike Shop, Madison Gardens, the Copper Still and the Paddy Wagon. These businesses offered discounts, dinner and drink specials, as well as live music.
DSP The Studio offered ten percent off everything. Currier Music had live music outside of the store. Purdy’s Coffee Co. offered a 15 percent discount and live music. Babylon Café had $5 meal deals and live music. Madison Garden’s, the Copper Still, Apollo Pizza, Dale’s Hotdog Stand, and the Paddy Wagon offered drink and food specials.
The Downtown Richmond Association sponsors Thursday Night Live. Rose Rex, Coordinator for the Downtown Richmond Association, and the Events sub- committee created this event to help promote economic growth in downtown Richmond. The Events sub-committee did research on other weekly events, such as Lexington’s Thursday Night Live. The difference between Lexington and Richmond’s Thursday Night Live event is that Richmond emphasizes individual business promotion and won’t be on such a large scale.
Downtown Richmond is populated with many bars and some residents of Richmond may worry that the drink specials being offered as a part of Thursday Night Live will increase the party scene downtown. Rex stated, “I don’t want this to turn into a bar hopping scene.” To avoid this, she encourages the businesses to offer discounts only from 4-7 p.m.
The goal of Richmond’s Thursday Night Live is to draw customers into businesses. The Downtown Richmond Association hopes Thursday Night Live will help promote all businesses downtown. “We want to expand the event,” Rex said. There have been suggestions submitted to the Events sub-committee to have a band on the lawn of the Court House. There have also been suggestions to dedicate one Thursday out of the month be “kids night” to encourage families to come out to Thursday Night Live. All suggestions will be submitted to the Events sub-committee and then approved by the Downtown Richmond Association.
The businesses that have gotten involved in Thursday Night Live so far are mostly the newer businesses in Downtown Richmond. Rex believes that not every downtown business is participating because they are waiting to get the feel of what Thursday Night Live will become. She hopes that eventually all businesses will come on board with the Thursday Night Live event. She believes that the more businesses that get involved, the more successful Thursday Night Live will be.
Dustin Stevenson, owner of DSP The Studio, is a member of the Downtown Richmond Association and works with Lori Tatum, the chair of the Marketing/Social Media committee. Stevenson created the flyer for Thursday Night Live as well as developed and maintains the Downtown Richmond Association Facebook page.
Each business features different specials each week. The businesses will email their specials to Stevenson a few days before the event. This is so Stevenson can promote the specials on the Downtown Richmond Association Facebook. This Facebook page is where the public can access the information on the weekly specials. Stevenson also sends the information to the Richmond Chamber of Commerce who is in partnership with the Downtown Richmond Association. The Richmond Chamber of Commerce sends email blasts to chamber members on behalf of the association to inform them of the weekly Thursday Night Live specials.
The Downtown Richmond Association has just recently been restarted with the growing economy. The association has six sub-committees, Marketing/Social Media, Finance, Business Development, Events, Partnership, and Beautification committees.
Thursday Night Live falls under the Events sub-committee. The meetings for the Downtown Richmond Association are on the third Thursday of every month at 8:30 a.m. at the City Commission Chambers in City Hall.
The sub-committees are composed of members of the Richmond community and business and property owners who volunteer their time. Rex has a full time job as a Mortgage Loan Originator with the Madison Bank along with being the Downtown Main Street Coordinator for the City of Richmond.
Rex has a passion for Downtown Richmond and wants to focus on the positive and upbeat things that Richmond has to offer. Thursday Night Live has a lot of potential. Rex believes that great success isn’t going to happen overnight but with the continued support from the businesses, the residents of Richmond, and the partnerships, Thursday Night Live will be successful.