Monday, September 19, 2011

Art Walk 2011 and the little town that could.

Friday night our little town had it's Annual Art Walk. I have only had my business here for nearly 2 years so I am not quite sure how many "Art Walks" there have been....but this is the first I have heard of.
NOW, first things first....It was a HUGE success! Huge!
(which was quite the surprise to many all of the retailers who participated.)
For those of you who follow my new blog and have never actually been into my shop let me paint the picture (pun intended, wink) of Boonton "the little town that could" and my business.
I first came upon Boonton while driving right down Main Street to get to another town (Mountain Lakes). It was the most direct and easiest way to get to the park I was going to.
You see, I was training to run a marathon (yep 26.2 miles) in San Francisco (of all places) as my symbol of endurance to raise money to help fund the cure for cancer and Mountain Lakes was where my team trainings were. (running for 3, 4 and 5 hours alone is very NOT fun)
So over the course of 5 months most Saturday or Sunday mornings I would drive through Boonton and look at the Historic old buildings ohhing and ahhing saying things like "this town is so cute...it just needs more cool shops and it would be great.
Before that I had never heard of Boonton, in fact, I did not know that the plastic dinnerware from the 50s that I collected for yeeears called Boontonware was actually MADE IN BOONTON. Ha.

When it was time to make a business decision to either move my business or close up shop I decided to take a chance on Boonton. (the rents were cheap by NJ standards and for less money than I was paying I would have a storefront on Main St.)
I settled for a space that was large enough (and cheap enough) for me. I had my heart on a space in the "flat" part of town (Boonton along with it's Main St was built on hills  mountains.) but the landlords wanted rent that was not relative to "the going rate" for the town...so I passed on the Pink Victorian and moved "down the hill".
Great Move for me and Savannah and I quickly moved to Boonton and settled in.
The town like my business was and is struggling to create a name for itself and succeed as many small quaint destination towns do.
My lease was up, I checked on the "Pink Victorian" again (still vacant after 1.5 years.) and settled on a number and moved the business uptown.

Even better move for me as I am now 5 months into my lease and can actually see the possibility to create enough income to provide for myself and Savannah.
Since I have moved to 906 Main 2 new Art Galleries opened, and 2 new interior designers set up shop.

Most importantly, most of the business owners are working together to support each other and create the buzz needed for people to find us.

We all pitched in and talked up our Art Walk.
 The 5 Galleries, Skyclad Gallery, S.H.E Gallery, SpeakEasy Gallery, Compton Gallery and Broadfoot and Broadfoot held receptions with food and drinks.
The other shops like myself featured Art from the other galleries and had guest artists in house. (and also had lots of food and bubbly)
We created a brochure, (props to Nancy at S.H.E Gallery all her doing) Union Center Bank funded our advertising and we all had our place on the "walk".
Again we all pitched in and talked and facebooked and emailed our Art Walk.
We had lines out our doors, and met many many people we have never seen before in Boonton.
Many times during the night I heard "WOW" I never knew there were so many great shops in Boonton.
"OH my gosh I LOVEE this store"
All the business owners were filled with excitement  shock and awe at the turn out. hahaha.

So for today I am still excited over our Art Walk.
Our town is well on it's way to "destination recognition".
And for me, this is all more than I could even imagine.

Boonton, the little town that could is well on it's way to being the next Frenchtown, New Hope or Lambertville...........because we simply, unequivocally  won't give up, until it is.


I (heart) Boonton.

4 comments:

  1. It truly was amazing! Words are hard to find for what the night was like, though you managed to find them EXACTLY! Another ArtWalk is in order; I've heard rumblings that it might coincide with the horse and buggy rides during Victorian Christmas. I was so thrilled to be there. The strip that you are on has Papyrus interiors, Balance Acupuncture, Lotus Boutique, Electric Lotus (my favorite tattoo shop, that was once featured in the NY Times) and Skyclad Gallery. Then S.H.E. Gallery is across the street, SpeakEasy, and the Thai Restaurant. I am sure I am missing something?

    Regardless, Boonton is, was, and will always be the little town that could. It's an amazing, close-knit town filled with creative people. We both know that. It's just a matter of time before everybody else does, too.

    I blogged about ArtWalk too, along with all the cool stuff I got in your shop. Did you see? http://thedomesticgoddessfiles.blogspot.com/2011/09/artwalk-meeting-sergio-supporters-and.html

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  2. Thanks DG,
    You are truly the Goddess of positive. I love love that ou never give up and despite naysayers you continue to do what you believe in. You not only talk the talk but you walk the walk.
    Your blog is fab and reading it obsessivly is what inspired me to write my own blog.
    I (heart) DG!

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  3. It sounds great! I hope to visit some time.
    All the Best!
    Doreen

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  4. I (heart) you too, girl. We are two peas...

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