By Patrick Donges
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-969310.mp3
Pittsfield, MA – Pittsfield's "Third Thursdays" festival, which runs on the afternoon through the evening of the third Thursday of each month from May through October, began as a way for local businesses to capitalize on the city's workforce.
Tomorrow's theme will be "Celebrating Youth" and feature a variety of youth performers at two venues organized by the city. Downtown businesses will also remain open into the evening with select promotions and events.
Megan Whilden, director of the city's Office of Cultural Development and the mind behind "Third Thursdays", describes the origin of the idea for the event.
"When GE was here and employing 15,000 people, every Thursday night downtown Pittsfield was packed because that was payday at GE. Of course that was before ATMS, so you had to go down and cash your check and all then all the stores would be open late. So when we started Third Thursdays we really wanted to bring back that feeling."
Whilden said the city's downtown has reached a "critical mass." In the past six years over 45 businesses, restaurants and cultural venues have opened in the city, with 12 openings in the past 12 months.
"There are still people who don't really realize it because they haven't been downtown to see. Third Thursdays provides that wonderful opportunity for them to come down and see that there really is a great array of restaurants (and) terrific locally owned shops."
Joe Mele, along with his wife Marie, is co-owner of The New Berry Place at 75 North Street, which opened a year ago last month.
"Its great exposure, you get roughly 10,000 people down here. For people that aren't a frequent shopper or a frequent visitor to the downtown it really gives them exposure to what's kind of going on and hopefully from these events it gets to build a base of more loyal downtown shoppers."
Calling the event a "boost in the arm" for daily business, which he said more than doubles during the event, Mele said his hope is that events like Third Thursday continue the city's push towards downtown revitalization.
"for 20 years there was nothing to do down here, so it's a rebuilding process through these types of events."
For Dan Alden, co-owner of Pittsfield Bra and Girl, an underwear store located in Great Barrington which opened a second location on North Street last November, tomorrow will be his shop's second crack at the Third Thursday crowd. The store opened just in time for last year's final event.
"We're really excited to kick off this fresh season and really get a run at the full thing. (We're) expecting great traffic, obviously."
Alden said the shop's Pittsfield location has been unexpectedly embraced by city residents.
"It's a relatively inexpensive way for people to treat themselves, freshen up their wardrobe. Give themselves a makeover, if you will, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg."
He offered this advice to local entrepreneurs or business owners considering downtown Pittsfield as a second location or base of operations.
"When things are down it's a great time to get in at the ground level. I think there's a lot of good will associated with sticking your neck out in an economy like this."
"There's other great locations in Pittsfield for people to plug into. You get in now and the rents are lower. It's an amazing opportunity there; it's almost a blank slate to get started."
Construction of a new streetscape is also continuing in downtown Pittsfield this summer.
Last year South Street received new lighting and landscape features, and construction is currently underway to install similar features on the first two blocks of North Street.
Whilden said that Third Thursday festivities will not be hampered or delayed by the work.
"The construction team is very cognizant of how important our festivals and events are in Pittsfield. They're doing it very surgically; they'll do one portion, do the work there, finish that, tidy it up and move to another portion."
Crews will stop work an hour earlier tomorrow to allow the street to be prepped for the festival.