Lake Geneva Business Improvement District officials plan to "love locals" this year, especially on Wednesdays.
Representatives from the Business Improvement District plan to conduct the "We Love Locals" campaign each Wednesday with a soft opening set for May 13.
The initiative was announced during the Business Improvement District's Annual Meeting and Community Improvement Awards, which was held April 1 at the Cove of Lake Geneva hotel, 111 Center St.
As part of the program, participating business owners will offer sales and specials at their establishment during each Wednesday throughout the year.
"It can be a discount. It can be a wine sampling," Beth Tumas, Business Improvement District Board member, said. "It can be anything you want to do. So, it's free publicity."
Participating businesses owners also will be encouraged to keep their establishments open until at least 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. during the days of the event.
"It doesn't need to be a midnight sales shop," Tumas said.
Business Improvement District Executive Director Alexandria Binanti said they also plan to offer free parking throughout the day for people who have a city parking sticker. The free parking initiative still has to be approved by Lake Geneva City Council members.
"So, that's one of the first initiatives we're trying to do to promote this local campaign," Binanti said.
Information about the event will be sent out to Walworth County residents.
"We want to keep this as big and as exciting as possible, so we can get that outreach for Walworth County and all the residents," Binanti said.
Participating businesses will be listed on the Business Improvement District's website, www.downtownlakegeneva.org, along with the promotions that each business will offer.
Tumas said the purpose of the "We Love Locals" campaign is to encourage residents to visit the downtown area during what is typically a slow business day.
"A lot of local people avoid downtown during the weekend, and Wednesdays we're all available and generally it tends to be a smaller sales day than other days of the week," Tumas said. "So, Wednesday is the day for 'We Love Locals.' We think it's going to be fun."
Pride Week
Business Improvement District representatives also plan to conduct a Pride Week event June 11-14 in downtown Lake Geneva to honor June's National Pride Month.
The event is set to feature sidewalk sales from participating businesses, community barbecue and burlesque show.
Stephen Schroeder, Business Improvement District Board member, said the purpose is to help attract people to Lake Geneva before the peak tourism season and to honor the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/ Questioning (LGBTQ) community.
"The reality is this is typically a slower time of the year for us. So, It's creating an opportunity for us to join up with the LGBTQ community," Schroeder said. "It's always been kind of an untouched market for the city of Lake Geneva."
Schroeder said he hopes the four-day event will encourage people to stay overnight in the Lake Geneva area.
"The reality is we want to get everyone involved," Schroeder said. "The goal is to get them to stay here for hopefully three or four days to get them around town and into the shops."
Besides the "We Love Local" initiative and the Pride Week event, Business Improvement District officials also plan to improve the appearance of the downtown area with decorated benches, bike racks and updated banners, which will promote community events including the Lake Geneva Farmers Market, Venetian Festival and Art in the Park.
"Those are the things we want people to know about year-round, so we're always going to have these bright, colorful images," Jessica Alethea Salgado, Business Improvement District Board member, said. "We're going to have some evergreen banners that are hopefully going to go up at the middle and to the end of May."
Salgado said, in the future, they also plan to covert an alleyway located near 234 Broad St. into a parkland area.
"It's a gorgeous alley, and we're going to try to resurface the pavement there, and it will be a permanent closure there." Salgado said.
