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Third Friday isn't new — it had its genesis with a group of Queen Street merchants back in March — but now, after several months of success, the monthly event is going citywide.
"Downtown is so much more than one night a month," Tony Nies, co-owner of Building Character at 342 N. Queen St., said Wednesday.
Third Friday was an idea pitched in February to business owners in the 300 block of North Queen Street, he said, "and the merchants were really behind it.
"We have musicians inside and outside," Nies said. "The galleries have music. There's music being performed in the streets. Music's being performed in restaurants. It's not just an art thing; it's a music thing."
But now that the idea has taken off, Nies said, the Queen Street merchants have begun meeting with other downtown retailers, as well as representatives of the Downtown and James Street investment districts.
They leaped at the chance to expand on the Queen Street plan, he said.
"It's exciting," Nies said. "This little movement to create some culture on a Friday night just took off and went citywide."
Marshall Snively, with the DID, said city officials are eager to see the downtown business district become a regular destination spot."When people think about what to do on a Friday night, just come downtown," he said. "You don't need a special event for people to think downtown is a great place to go on a weekend night."
The Friday events are encouraging businesses to stay open later, which is good for the city, he said.
"There are a lot of mom-and-pop stores, places that don't have a lot of employees, and frankly there are places that don't want to keep mall hours," Snively said. "But more people are realizing there's a need to stay open later. And they are starting to notice more and more people on the streets.
"The goal is to get people to come downtown, not just the third Friday but every Friday."
For a complete schedule of performers and locations, visit Building Character online at buildingcharacter.biz/lancaster.
Evening entertainment "brings a whole different group of people into the city," Nies said. "And on an evening we all would have been shut down, now we're open for business."
Some stores that don't have room for music still open up to take advantage of walk-by traffic, he said.
And if it's profitable for merchants once or twice a month, there's no reason why it couldn't be a more regular boon to downtown commerce.
(767) (294) (69) (24) (12) (10) (5) (4) (2)"There's a buzz about doing this every Friday night," Nies said. "We're going to get to that point. There's a demand. We could hold something every Friday night, and people would be there.
"Downtowners are hungry for something to do. They're hungry for culture."
E-mail: tknapp@lnpnews.com
