Vibrant Visions – Association picks keyword to raise visitor expectations

For Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association Manager Carrie Cook, there’s a word for the atmosphere downtown this summer — "vibrancy."

Business owners are finding that to be the case after Car d’Lane, the first big event of the summer.

By RICK THOMAS
Staff writer

"I cue everybody to use the word every chance they get," said Cook.

"’Vibrancy’ is the word of the year," said Blake Bowyer, Cook’s summer intern at the association.

Vibrancy is the key word in the theme of the association’s five-year strategic plan, developed last winter.

Creating that vibrancy includes connecting to the rest of the community and featuring the lake as it promotes economic vitality and excellence.

"The idea is to have that vibrancy fuel what happens in the rest of the summer," said Cook. "When people think of downtown, they think of the lake."

She’s pleased with the marketing campaign by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which she said is reaching four times as many people as in years past.

Car d’Lane, in part because of its history and the steadily increasing quality of cars that show up, hit new highs of attendance both by participants and visitors.

The take from entrants alone is up to $9,200 from $7,200 last year as of Tuesday, and they are still processing credit cards, said Cook.

For downtown businesses, it was a record-setting weekend.

Java on Sherman, a coffee shop owned by Jim Pierce, did twice its normal volume of business, he said.

Pierce said they’ve planned for downtown’s summer weekends since February and it’s paying off.

"My hat’s off to Carrie Cook," said Pierce. "I’m a big fan."

Robert Lenhart, owner of the San Francisco Sourdough restaurant, said Saturday was their best day in five years of business.

"It was insane, but it was a good insanity," he said. " We’re in Idaho and we were doing California numbers."

There and at Cricket’s, employees worked hard to keep up but made good money.

"It was a lot of fun," said Carina Mills, a bartender and waitress at Cricket’s. "People from age 2 to 80 were at the street dance."

Mark Porath, manager of Cricket’s and Car d’Lane chairman for the past five years, said Saturday’s earnings were $8,000 more than any other day in their 19 years in business.

"We were expecting big numbers," he said. "We were pleasantly surprised."

Cars began showing up at 5 a.m., he said. More than 1,000 cars showed for Friday night’s cruise and more than 600 came for Saturday’s show and shine.

The crowd surpassed all expectations, and lulls between the arrival of cars and the start of the show meant time to serve lots of breakfast. The same was true at dinner time, with the close of the show at 5 p.m. and the start of the street dance at 8 p.m.

They were ready, with their walk-in refrigerators full and a reefer trailer loaned by Sysco filled with food. They went through 3,500 pounds of ice during the weekend, said Porath.

"It was a very vibrant start to the summer," he said. "It brought the entire area in for one big, beautiful show."

Retailers, who haven’t always benefited from the show, did well, said Ilene Moss, owner of All Things Irish.

Even real estate got a boost, said Jim Busicchia, an agent at ReMax Real Estate on Sherman Avenue.

"Between noon and 3 o’clock at least 20 people came in and picked up magazines and did computer searches to check on prices," he said.

So downtown’s summer season is off to a, well, vibrant start, with several months of activities left, beginning with the Ironman triathlon on Sunday expected to draw more than 2,000 entrants plus their friends and families.

"It will be fun watching the demographics change with Ironman," said Cook.