The inaugural Spring Into Downtown festival comes to the lakecity this Saturday, courtesy of Downtown Williams Lake.
Spring Into Downtown is the newest feather in the cap of Downtown Williams Lake’s event roster, joining the Winter Lights Festival, the Art Walk and Trick’R Treat Downtown. It is the replacement for the Stampede Street Party, which was dropped due to a lack of readily available volunteers on Stampede Weekend.
Downtown Williams Lake’s executive director, Stefanie Hendrickson, is looking forward to bringing this brand new event to the community. The event will take place on Saturday, May 25 all over downtown Williams Lake starting at 11 a.m. and going all the way until 5 p.m.
“It’s really a celebration of spring and community (while) supporting downtown businesses and non-profits,” Hendrickson said. “We have a pretty full day lined up and it’s going to be fun for all ages.”
Starting the day off at 11 a.m. will be a series of family activities put on and hosted by various businesses running until 2 p.m. Hendrickson said that this includes ten minutes of VR for ages five and up at Adventure Games, face painting at the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District, a sidewalk chalk art community project at Spirit Square and flower potting for children at the Williams Lake and District Credit Union, to name but a few of the events. Also running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. will be the Potato House Carnival Fundraiser which will feature a bouncy castle, face painting and prizes courtesy Hattie and Amos Entertainment.
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Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. is the event Hendrickson is personally most looking forward to, the first ever Downtown Fashion Show. Several downtown apparel retailers will be showing off their latest summer collection on a stage in the Downtown Williams Lake’s office parking lot.
“It’s probably the most challenging piece of this (festival) I’d say but it’s the one we’re really excited about it because we think the community is going to be really surprised by what types of clothing we have downtown,” Hendrickson said.
Capping off the evening is the ever popular Midday Madness from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. where almost 20 downtown businesses will be offering a wide range of deals and discounts on their products. A complete list of all deals is available on a map for the event, as well as an itinerary for the various events, which will be available at all participating locations prior to Spring Into Downtown and during the event itself.
Throughout the day, Hendrickson said Mr. Mikes, the Bean Counter and Karamia’s Donairs are offering special deals for the community. Mr. Mikes will hold the Happiest Hour, $5 for bites, booze and dessert, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., while The Bean Counter will have a sidewalk barbecue and drink special and Karamia’s Donairs a $10.95 special on combo’s one and two.
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“We’re really excited to see how this turns out and hopefully this is just the first of many that we do,” Hendrickson said. “We’re going for casual and springy and we are really hoping for good weather because I think that will help us have a really good day.”
She added that applications for buskers are still open for the festival and said that she welcomes any musicians to come out and help fill the streets with music. Applications can be made through the Downtown Williams Lake office.
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