With the smell of fresh baked donuts drifting through the air, and the tantalizing sound of live music bouncing of the historic old buildings in Moose Jaw’s downtown, Sidewalk Days 2012 kicked off Thursday morning with a new look and a new feel.
Organizers with the event have changed the face of Sidewalk Days giving it more of a festival-like atmosphere.
“Definitely looks like they did expand a bit this year,” said Jesse Sceaton who was walking down to the New Board Shop (NBS) hunting sales.
“It seems better than last year,” said Jesse’s friend Breigh-Anne Rodford who liked the new feel of Sidewalk Days. “It brings more people to Moose Jaw.”
The expansion of the event has been good for vendours too, who are seeing a broadening of their demographics through the exposure provided by Sidewalk Days and the expansion into festival status.
“There’s more stuff for everybody to do, including kids. Before it was more just food vendours and the people that have businesses downtown doing stuff,” said Jordan Calibaba, owner of NBS. “Now it seems like there’s more different people that have booths set up and they’re selling different things. It helps for sure.”
Calibaba said Sidewalk Days has been a great event for the shop every year as they sell off some of their backed-up stock at cheap prices. But he said the best part was reaching demographics that otherwise wouldn’t set foot in their shop.
“We see a completely different crowd at Sidewalk Days than what come through here on a daily basis,” he said.
Joya Johnston, from GJ Canine Boarding, said that the expansions are great for the city.
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
