First Thursday: Event said doing well, more plans for next year

With five First Thursdays now in the books, Colfax's Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory said the event is doing well.

“We think it's going good,” she said. “It brings people downtown.”

Gregory said people have reported enjoying the vendors.

“They love the vendors,” she said. “We have more signed up for next year.”

Two more First Thursdays are scheduled this year. Next week on Nov. 3, First Thursday will be a holiday open house, with several businesses participating. The Dec. 1 First Thursday will celebrate Colfax's annual Winterfest, and vendors will set up in empty store fronts.

After that the vendors will be out of action until next May, said Gregory. First Thursday will still continue with businesses staying open later and promotions.

First Thursday started with the idea of bringing people downtown at a time which typically does not see much downtown foot traffic.

“Some of the younger people in town have said it will be great, and it's not a huge festival, but it will get people downtown,” Gregory told the Gazette in May prior to the first of the First Thursdays. “We're doing it for the town and doing it to get our local people out.”

It was also established to create a farmer's market for Colfax, with fresh produce vendors slated. Gregory told the Gazette this week she would have liked to have seen more fresh produce vendors.

“We wish there was more farmers market-type people,” she said. “But we had great vendors, and we had a variety of vendors every month.”

She hopes to see more fruits and vegetables with vendors next year.

First Thursday also had live entertainment for every event with the exception of the one in October. A band was not booked in October because the weather conditions were unknown and because funds had run out.

“We only had $1,000 for the year from the tourism funds,” said Gregory.

“We got a $10,000 grant from motel taxes for next year,” she added. “We're going to bring in some bigger bands with some people who are kind of local.”

Gregory said she has appreciated the support of the businesses for First Thursdays, but she would also like to see them continue to stay open later and have more businesses involved, too.

“We've got some businesses that stayed open once, but they haven't stayed open again,” said Gregory.

She said a lot of success will be seen when the businesses and First Thursday are working together.

“It's my job to bring them downtown, and their job is to keep them downtown,” said Gregory. “They've done pretty well.”

Gregory said things such as sales, marketing, promotions and reader boards could help with businesses being able to stay open later and keeping people downtown.

“We're just glad to see people downtown,” she said. “It's just fun to see people walking on the street. I think people in town like it.”

The first five First Thursdays were themed “Bingo Block Party,” “Red, White and Win!,” “Cruising Colfax,” “Harvest Party” and “Creepy Colfax.” When First Thursday hits in January, the themes will continue, with January slated as “It's a New Year Party,” February as “Mardi Gras,” March as “March Madness,” April as “Rainy Daze” and May as “Garden Party.” Themes have not been decided past May.

“I'll work with the downtown association and the chamber to see what they want to do for each of those,” said Gregory. “We'll probably think of some different things I would guess.”

Gregory said the Best Western here has also been supportive of First Thursday, putting advertisements in each of the rooms. She said this has brought visitors downtown at times.

First Thursday next week will start at 3 p.m. and conclude at 6:30 p.m. The Passport to Colfax will launch for the month of November in conjunction with First Thursday.