The Importance of Downtowns in Destination Towns

Downtowns have long been the center of activities in a community. Even if the main draw for your community may now sit outside of the city limits, visitors should be drawn to your community’s downtown. For instance, if the destination is on a lake, visitors don’t stay on the lake the entire time. Outside of the need to go into town for supplies, there should be another draw. As the sun sets curious visitors are often searching for places to eat dinner or take in entertainment that doesn’t involve sitting in their boat.

Luring visitors from a destination to your downtown helps your entire community. Downtown businesses are frequented more often, providing more stability to those business owners. Also, the sales tax from the transactions from visitors to the downtown helps to offset the tax burden of a community that leans too much on property taxes to survive.

Activities In Downtown Niles, Courtesy Mainstreet Niles

Get Them There

The desire to have destination visitors come downtown is often easier said than done. Bold and noticeable wayfinding signage is a key factor in drawing visitors to the downtown. Google Maps works for those who just want to satisfy specific needs, but it doesn’t work for those who like to explore.

But also don’t dismiss Google Maps as a viable resource to bring people downtown. It is rarely a complete resource either. In many small towns, I have noticed that several businesses do not show up at all. Yet others might have a marker with their business but the profile lacks information or pictures that help draw visitors in.

Take for instance Slippery’s in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. One look at the Wessington Springs website and you can see the town may have the potential to be a Destination Town. Yet Slippery’s business profile on Google Maps is rather lacking. The bar gets 4.3 stars with some good reviews, but there’s no information about the bar, and nobody’s posted pictures. This is not to bemoan Slippery’s, they may be at ease with the lack of pictures. Not many regulars at a bar like someone snapping pics that are publicly posted. But adding just a phone number and hours of operation can have a positive impact.

On the flip side, there’s the Holt County Grill in O’Neill, Nebraska. O’Neill has worked to make themselves a Destination Town for St. Patrick’s Day in Nebraska. Their business profile is full of useful information, including a link to their menu. But the photographs! My mouth waters as I scroll through each of the dishes that have been posted to Google Maps.

Yes, comparing a bar profile to a restaurant profile on Google Maps is like comparing apples to oranges. But the amount of information available to visitors is quite important.

Be Active

If your community has a good chamber of commerce you’ve probably listened to the campaigning for activity in your downtown before. It is well documented that having regular activities in the downtown is beneficial to the businesses that reside there.

However, a downtown needs to be active. There need to be reasons for visitors to stick around (yes, that was “reasons” plural). When visitors come to your downtown just for a meal and leave soon after, you’ve lost out on plenty of potential economic activity. Having occasional activities in your downtown is important to keep people around. If the visitors stay downtown, the more they frequent the rest of the businesses throughout the rest of the downtown business district.

Niles, Michigan, a Star Community on Rural Resurrection, knows just how fruitful activating their downtown can be. Their downtown feeds off of a variety of festivals and activities that take place in Riverfront Park along its western edge. Community leaders also created The Node during COVID-19 which held many activities including live bands, yoga, book club meetings, and fundraisers.

Activities In Downtown Niles, Courtesy Mainstreet Niles

Something for Everyone

To be successful in drawing visitors from Destination activities to your downtown, you need to make sure there’s something for everyone. You may want to draw entire families downtown. But is there something to do for the wives, the husbands, AND the kids? What about teens and early adults, each with a different palet of interests? And don’t forget the other end of the spectrum either. Those who are young at heart should not be overlooked either.

Something as simple as making sure there are enough electrical outlets or public WiFi can go a long way. It could also mean active and passive park spaces. Or it could be kid-friendly activities during a concert that interests their parents.

Family Fun – Niles, Michigan, Courtesy Niles Main Street

Your Destination Town is More Than Just the Destination

Just remember that your town is about more than just the destination that you are trying to draw visitors to. Visitors should be drawn to the town overall as a destination, not just the location for lodging and restaurants. Draw visitors downtown to help give them the full experience of your community.