Belleville DDA launches Downtown Shop Local events in Belleville

“Jingle Your Cents in Downtown Belleville” is the theme of a Shop Local promotion put together by the Belleville Downtown Development Authority and local merchants.
At the Nov. 16 meeting of the Belleville DDA, DDA Coordinator Carol Thompson said they are working together to launch this holiday promotion ahead of Shop Small on Saturday, Nov. 26, and will continue promoting Downtown Belleville Shop Local through the holiday season.
Thompson said each participating downtown business will set its own store’s promotion: a giveaway or discount or other holiday special.
She said the DDA will host a Holiday Shop Local Facebook Page to help downtown businesses get the word out about their holiday promotion. Thompson said businesses can promote themselves on both their own and the DDA pages and can cross-promote from business to business.
Each participating downtown business will receive a poster with the promotion logo for its window or counter.
On Thursday evening, Dec. 8 (with a bad-weather day of Dec. 15), downtown Belleville will host the Jingle Belleville Ladies Night Out for shopping and dining at local businesses.
Thompson said businesses can invite unique vendors to share their space and bring in more/new customers for this special shopping event.
In other business at the 20-minute Nov. 16 meeting, the DDA:
• Was informed that Terra Firma, which was on the agenda to give a presentation on Village Park Ponds was not present and sent no message about missing the meeting it agreed to. It missed the October meeting because of a death in the family, Thompson said;
• Briefly discussed information on Huron River Water Trail kayak lockers. Thompson said the information was given out at the last Trails Partnership meeting. These structures are being placed in three or four sites along the Water Trail so people can lock up their watercraft and personal belongings and go out to eat or stay overnight. She said the DDA had talked about having a structure to store kayaks for security and this was an information item for them. When the DDA learned it cost $35,000 for a permanent structure, they decided it was more than they wanted to pay. There had been a vendor who was going to rent kayaks and canoes at Horizon Park, but they couldn’t work out who would build the structure, Thompson said. Jeff Vernon said from the audience that they should plan some kayaking events or races before thinking about building a structure to see how many people are interested;
• Learned the chili cook-off winning Soup project planned for 2016 didn’t happen because “things changed at the end of the school year and the car show was not in September.” Thompson said the DDA plans to participate in the 2017 Soup project with Belleville High School’s New Tech program; and
• Heard Kelly Bates note, from the audience, that according to the DDA Maintenance list the aerators in the Village Park retention ponds are to be removed by the DPW in September and they are still in place. Bates is president of the Victoria Commons Homeowners’ Association.