Main Street wine walk event exposes downtown businesses

If this summer's monthly wine walks in downtown Gardnerville were designed to expose local businesses, then the first wine walk on Thursday was a success.

More than 150 people turned out for Main Street Gardnerville's Thirsty Third Thursday Wine Walk, which began on the front lawn of the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center.

More than 25 businesses in the downtown corridor kept their doors open for the wine-drinking wanderers, each business serving its own wine. On Friday morning, the same business owners reported that even if sales weren't huge, the event was successful in terms of exposure and getting people downtown.

"We had 67 people come through the store that I counted," said Deb Keller, owner of the new Heirloom Antiques, north of Sharkey's Casino. "I wasn't anticipating sales. I just wanted people to see the store and see what we have, and I was very happy with the turnout."

Keller said the event was well organized and provided people with an opportunity to discover stores they might not have known about.

"Some people said they'd lived here for five years but hadn't been in any of these stores," she said. "It's a shame because there are some really unique gifts available. I believe that getting tourists to shop is great, but that getting local people to shop is what's going to sustain our local businesses."

Bronwyn Mason, owner of Artisans International, agreed. She recently moved her business into Felix Pottery and Artisan's Shoppe, now called Three Rooms Gallery, just south of Heirloom Antiques.

"We had over a hundred people in our store for the wine walk," Mason said. "A third of them had never been in here before. A lot of them said they'd driven by on 395 and had always wanted to come in, but just never had. This, the wine walk, is a great idea. It allows people to find about the businesses here."

Like Keller, Mason said sales weren't huge, but that the important thing was planting a seed in people's minds.

"I think that by the September wine walk, people will already be shopping for Christmas," she said. "They may not want to buy anything right now, but they'll remember what they see."

"It's a good start," said Gardnerville resident Dan Edwards, who was strolling the sidewalk with his wife Gunilla. "The businesses are getting exposure for sure, which is expected anytime you have a beer or wine festival like this."

Gardnerville resident Jeff Wass said he attended the wine walk in order to "mingle with the Gardnerville crowd."

"One thing they can do to get people to stop downtown is provide more parking," he said.

Susie Biaggini, a member of Main Street's board of directors, has lived in downtown Gardnerville for 15 years. She said she knows the challenges of trying to slow down traffic through the corridor. In fact, she was working at the wine walk as a crossing guard, sporting an orange safety vest and a handheld stop sign.

"Slowing down the street is my goal," she said. "It's hard to cross the street, but I love it here anyway. We want to promote the businesses downtown so people will stay here to shop. We want people to know that downtown Gardnerville is the place to go."

Four more wine walks are scheduled for this summer: June 18, July 16, Aug. 20 and Sept. 17. The walks start at 4 p.m. Participants should meet at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center to register.

For more information, call 782-8027 or e-mail plochridge@mainstreetgardnerville.org.