By Jordan Studer
jstuder@wbcowqel.com
Downtown Bucyrus was hopping Friday evening during the first ever First Friday event. From 5 to 9 p.m. the town was shown off. The main goal of the night was to encourage the community to shop local all the while bringing everyone closer together.
Shops that don’t normally stay open until 9 on Friday nights decided to keep their doors open a little longer. Lining the sidewalks outside of the shops were vendors of businesses that are not located right in the heart of downtown.
For owner Alyssa Suter of the new shop right in the middle of it all, 2 Begin Again “Repurposed, Refurbished Relove” this event was a great way to bring people into the just opened store. With the ribbon cutting taking place that morning, all customers from the event were new and excited to explore.
When asking Suter if she thought that First Friday played a part in the success of her grand opening she replied, “It probably brought in people that wouldn’t normally be looking for me or knew something about my store. I think this is an amazing event, there are people everywhere.”
And everywhere they were. The sidewalks of downtown Bucyrus were packed with families and friends enjoying the night and taking in all of the vendors, shops, and entertainment.
“It’s really nice to see people in downtown Bucyrus on a Friday night with places to go and look to and enjoy the people that you know. It makes the place look alive,” community member Steve Cuffman commented.
With the theme of the night being Health and Fitness, Fitness Warehouse, the 24-hour fitness center in Galion, came to bring the excitement. Their area was the hub of exhilarating fitness demonstrations and competitions for anyone interested. People surrounded the area when brave souls began competing in tire flipping and push-up battles while fitness coaches encouraged them every step of the way.
“Bottom line, what we were trying to do is support the city and what they are doing with the local businesses. Being a small business, we like to support everything we can, with people supporting us,” gym owner Wes Kochheiser stated when asked what the driving factor of their appearance at the event had been.
The turnout of the event as a whole was very successful. Many people commented on the amount of people the night had brought in. Going into the night, no one anticipated such a large crowd. After the event concluded, everyone sang a different tune.
“We didn’t exactly expect this big of a turnout. We got something good going here. At this point, I think next year is going to be even better. Looking forward to it if we can keep this crowd out all summer,” Kochheiser said.
Speaking with an event advisor, Larry West, “We had no idea what to expect. Just because it’s the first one. Once the numbers started coming in about the number of shops that were going to be open and the number of vendors, 40 or 45, I had no expectation of that. I figured if we could get half that we would be successful.”
As for improvements for the future First Fridays, West was quick to answer. “We only have two food vendors. But now that we have a rough idea of what to expect, somebody else might be willing to come. What we need is like the Lions Club, Kiwanis, or Knights of Columbus to just come up and set something up.”
It was quite clear that the goal of bringing the community closer was definitely accomplished as laughter, chatter, music, and food aromas filled the air. Nothing brings community members together better than shopping, food, and entertainment.
Ned Jacobs, a lively man enjoying the night out on the town, explained that what really made this event spectacular was “The people, they are just so wonderful. They treated us just like family,” said Jacobs.
With two additional First Fridays set for July 1st and August 5th, the good times are sure to continue as the community showed its love to downtown Bucyrus.
For more additional information about First Fridays, don’t forget to check out the event on Facebook. Details about themes for the future events can be found there. Any artists or food vendors that would like to set up for the event be sure to contact Sue Logsdon or Ashley Spencer of U Be Dazzled at 419-617-7667.