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30 WINTER 2018 SELKIRK – HOLIDAY ALLEY S elkirk's award-winning tourism event Holiday Alley completed its second year in early December, having already confirmed what everyone had hoped: Tourism is more than a great party, it's an economic spark. The two-day winter festival could be a case study for how to reimagine an old prairie downtown and how to support your municipality's downtown renewal plan. The dream to use tourism to bring more people and more spending back to Selkirk's historic core has been successful largely because several small businesses — most of them led or owned by Selkirk Biz members — stepped up early to make it happen. "There's definitely a correlation between a business owner who engages with their local Chamber and one who embraces a new crazy tourism idea like turning a very wide and old street into a sparkling, energetic, celebration of art, light, sound and creativity for the first really cold weekend in December," says Holiday Alley co-creator Shirley Muir. In its inaugural year in 2017, Holiday Alley united small businesses, from the owners of a 1950s diner at one end of the old downtown to a well-established women's clothing store that anchors Selkirk's busiest intersection. After a year of planning and many hours of volunteering, they managed to draw 3,000 to 4,000 people a day and ring up record sales. The Gwen Fox Gallery gift shop was the biggest winner with a 1,000 per cent increase in sales. The Gypsy Traders, a home decor store that had just moved into the old downtown, saw a 300 per cent increase in sales. Even the Garry Theatre saw a 35 per cent spike in attendance. Inclusion Selkirk, which supports adults with disabilities and runs the Riverside Grill, a restaurant that doubles as a training ground for the people they support, sold three times their usual number of burgers, fries and milkshakes during Holiday Alley's first year. And they have seen increased traffic ever since. "We saw people coming downtown and experiencing it all over again because they had forgotten how good we are down here," says Maria Freeman, CEO of Inclusion Selkirk, which was the recipient of the 2017 Partnership Award from the Interlake Tourism Association. "We bought this location a few years ago because it's an established place, but we know the more local people who invest in this downtown, the more people we bring to it," says Freeman. At the opposite end of the block is Packers PARTY ANIMALS Selkirk businesses light up the old downtown BY KIT MUIR CONTINUED >>

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