The Big Dig

Digging and sawing continue to cloud Laurel Ave and keep shoppers at bay.  Workers have spent the last few months digging holes to bury the power lines, which looks great.  Now they appear to be working on the sewer pipes.  The biggest issue for shoppers and merchants has been the use of a concrete saw that has blown thick clouds of dust throughout downtown.  Ron at Forgotten Times Antiques has used his Facebook page to keep everyone updated on the progress of the "Big Dig".   The best descriptive was from a neighboring business who said she could taste the concrete from inside her store.

Ron was able to document the following sequence that occurred in front of his store.  We welcome anyone who may be familiar with this field of work to clarify what it is that we are witnessing here.  If you can assist, please use the comment section below.

I know what it looks like, but can it really be that simple?

Hillary's first promotions roll out is the best we've seen in last 3 years.  While attendance was down, the ideas and enthusiasm were definitely up.

Window of the Month - Brook David - The Horry Independent will begin featuring a window of the month from a participating Conway Main Street USA member business. You gotta like free publicity.  Thank you to the Indy.

CCU Homecoming - Oct. 18th - The most exciting announcement of the meeting was the news from CCU, which has stepped up it's homecoming festivities and will host them in downtown Conway.  The "Paint the Town Teal" promotion this year will add student volunteers to help the participating merchants get the storefronts ready to celebrate.  Again this year there will be an award given to the best decorated storefront.  This time we encourage everyone to be happy for the winner, no matter who it is.   Last year someone who thought they should have won, had a major hissyfit.  Shame on them, it's all about having fun and showing school spirit.

CCU will also be replacing the tradition homecoming parade with a Chantoberfest Block Party, complete with a battle of the bands style live music event on 3rd ave between Main St. and Elm.  Anyone with questions should contact Ms. Tyger Glauser 843-349-2301.  And be sure to thank her again for the University's commitment to work with our downtown merchants.

Wedding Expo - Feb -26th - They have also decided to try my idea of a wedding promotion, but it will deviate from the original plan a bit.  I tend to favor a bridal walk over the traditional expo, mostly as a convenience factor for downtown business owners and to add some uniqueness to our event.  Either way it will be good for Conway and it's always nice to see one of my suggestions being implemented. Read the original Bridal Walk idea here.

Christmas Open House - Tracy Pickens - It's back to Sunday.  Yea! Thanks for protecting a great tradition.

Downtown Conway Gift Certificates - Ron Pougnaud - You should have been there.  It was like the famous speech from the movie "Patton".  Gave me chills it did.  Buy some, it's your patriotic duty.

There were many other good ideas that we will announce as we get closer to the dates.

CMUSA FOIA/OMA -FYI - Very happy with the the way it was finally covered, big improvement over the early reporting on it.  One mistake though, Barb was actually a member at the time, the Indy said she was not.

Notebook?

The second edition of the Sun News' imitation of the ConwayJournal continues to disappoint.  I was hoping that by dedicating a full time journalist and photographer to the job we would get something a little more entertaining and insightful.  Read it here. Next time throw in some video, pics, and links about what you've covered in the article.  An image of Lavern Wilson would help us connect emotionally to the story.  A video interview with a choice tow truck operator, getting his side of the city's new towing ordinance could have been epic.  A link to the "Life in the Carolinas" website would allow us to better judge the value of the $16,000 dollars spent to produce it.  How can you tell us that our city and county governments gave $$ to help with the production without saying  how much or what they hope to achieve from it.   The program's website says that the show airs on Fox Charlotte WCCB Saturdays at noon.  What are the Neilson ratings for that time slot?  And we know Charlotte is a big market, but who's actually watching Fox on Saturdays at Noon?  Instead we get rhetoric like "a brush with destiny" and "nearly 5 million residents of the Carolinas".   With access to hundreds of channels, do that many people actually watch locally produced programming during off-peak hours?  If so, then shouldn't Conway businesses focus more of their advertising efforts on local FOX affiliates, buying as much off-peak TV advertising space as they can afford.  I bet the Sun News advertising sales manager could tell us exactly how much that noon TV spot is worth.