Belleville’s Downtown District is preparing for a couple of events this spring, but also preparing for the possibility of a COVID-19 shutdown.
The Downtown District works with the city on the events, Savour the Chill and Quintelicious.
Chair Kathryn Brown tells Quinte News the idea is to have Plan A and Plan B, in case there is a provincial shutdown when the event dates come up.
Brown says, “Plan A for Savour the Chill is the open restaurant plan, but Plan B would be the takeout model that was used last year. For Quintelicious it would be the same. Savour the Chill. The soup contest. Everybody knows it. It’s been around for many, many years. Last year we put together a take-out spectacular Quintelicious. It was hugely popular. It included restaurants, not from just downtown, it included restaurants from all 0ver Belleville.”
“That planning is in the works as well. Given that we’ve already done it once as a completely take-out model we just pull out that game book and follow it again, if that’s what we’re faced with.”
She added. “If we can actually be open by March and restaurants can return to indoor dining then we’ll make it. I’m trying to avoid the word pivot but none the less we’ll pivot in that direction where we can do it with dining in, if that’s available to us.
“We recognize, as a BIA, our responsibility is to the 200-plus members we have down here and how do we make it as smooth as possible.”
“We recognize, as a BIA, our responsibility is to the 200-plus members we have down here and how do we make it as smooth as possible.”
Brown says the idea is to be able to “turn on a dime” and always have another plan ready.
“Encourage people to continue to support their local independent businesses but be flexible. If there’s one thing we’ve learned through all of this it’s be flexible. Be able to turn it on a dime. And always have a plan A, B, C, D, E, F.”
You can hear the complete Mary Thomas interview with Kathryn Brown on Newsmaker Sunday, this Sunday at the noon hour, on 800 CJBQ.
