Quite a “Party on Park”
Dan McClelland
Saturday's “Party on Park,” while abbreviated by rain, drew hundreds of people to the uptown business district to help celebrate the arrival of five new business there, several of which marked their grand openings that day.
The five new places were Spruce and Hemlock, the Adirondack Store and Birch Boys, The Row, Stacked Graphics and Well Dressed Food's new “Libations” bar.
The promotion was spearheaded by Garrett Kopp, one of the Birch Boys.
The street was closed off and the event opened at 1p.m. but the rain arrived shortly after 2:30 p.m., putting a damper on the outdoor activities and the sales at the outdoor vendors on the one block length of Park Street. The rain, however, had an unexpected benefit for the new businesses. It moved visitors and locals indoors to the new shops at mid-afternoon and many stayed for quite some time to explore all the new retail goods for sale. The Park Street businesses reported unbelievable crowds and brisk sales as a result.
According to comments that day, too, people were impressed with all they saw in these brand new retail outlets.
These photos show some of the on-street activity in the early afternoon (clockwise from top left): Wild Center staffer Shannon Surdyk spins cotton candy from the center's locally-drawn maple syrup supply; Cabin Fever's Anne Hoag worked out of her vintage trailer, selling among other things tie-dyed roses (some of her flowers are now sold inside Spruce and Hemlock); Broyce Guerette, who with his wife Allison bought Childwold's popular Leather Artisan shop over the winter from Tom and Donna Amoroso, shows off some of their new purses and handbags (also sold now at Spruce and Hemlock); and Nicole Jessie, a hard-working lass who spent her college years working in businesses all over Tupper Lake, was manning the taps at the popular Raquette River Brewing booth. Below youngsters enjoy fishing in front of the State Theater. (Dan McClelland photos)
