The Richmond Downtown Association has partnered with local businesses on and around Main Street to create a weekly Thursday Night Live event.
Aimed at promoting businesses and drawing customers out for a night on the town, Richmond’s first Thursday Night Live was held 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.
The Downtown Richmond Association sponsors Thursday Night Live created this event with the help of a committee to promote economic growth in downtown Richmond.
Research was done on other weekly events, such as Lexington’s popular Thursday Night Live. The difference between Lexington and Richmond’s Thursday Night Live event is that Richmond emphasizes individual business promotion.
“I don’t want this to turn into a bar-hopping scene,” Rex said. 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 subcommittee to have a band on the lawn of the courthouse. There have also been suggestions to dedicate one Thursday each month as “kids night” to encourage families to come out to Thursday Night Live.
Other suggestions will be submitted to the subcommittee and then go before the Downtown Richmond Association for approval.
The businesses that have gotten involved in Thursday Night Live so far are mostly the newer businesses in downtown Richmond. Rex said that not every downtown business is participating because they are waiting to get a feel of what Thursday Night Live will become. She hopes that eventually all businesses will come on board, and the more businesses that get involved, the more successful it will be.
Each business is featuring a different special each week. Those will be publicized on the Downtown Richmond Association’s Facebook page.
Rex said she 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.