Flavah Fest 4Evah!!
Last weekend, the town organized a first-ever Food Truck Flavor Fest event in Fairhaven Center. The event was orchestrated by a motivated group of Town Hall employees, who took on this project in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities of running a small town. I played a small part in organizing the event and rallying volunteers through the Livable Streets Committee. What began as a brainstorming session in July culminated in a memorable night in September, where hundreds of people came out to hang out and eat in our beautiful town Center.
Even though it was drizzling throughout most of the event, nearly every one of the nine trucks had long lines within an hour of the event opening. The organizers have heard from many who want this event to happen again next year. Success!
Food Truck Flavor Fest was more than just a one-time event. It was a small experiment from which we could learn and build on. A few things we learned:
Food (notably different types of cuisine) will bring people out to the Center
We’ve already seen how restaurants like Olivia’s, the Village Cafe, or Wah May’s and businesses like the Ice Cream Cottage or Sweet Lizzy’s bring foot traffic to the Center. It’s clear that there’s demand for even more. The food truck event was a great way of testing that demand with a small bet. If 500 people will show up in the rain for a handful of food trucks, it’s a good bet that there’s a strong enough market to sustain a few additional small restaurants (more on that later). Likewise, having a cluster of places to get food, as in any good downtown, creates a draw.
Our beautiful town buildings in the Center are incredible assets that serve as an excellent setting for street life!
For anyone who knows our town, what do you picture when I ask you to picture “Fairhaven” in your head? I’m guessing it wasn’t this:
Chances are, it was some version of this:
These beautiful buildings are the product of past generations’ wealth and investment in our town. Through much trial and error, a small seaside settlement grew into a proper town, with a grid of streets served by streetcars from prosperous New Bedford. Why would a bunch of flinty Yankees go for such opulence in building their public buildings? Were there not cranks at those early town meetings decrying municipal waste? Old man Jebidiah Howland crying, “Let ye not build a palace when a humble concrete block will do?!” The truth is that our thrifty forebears rightly surmised that these town buildings served a critical purpose beyond facilitating the town’s business. They were created to symbolize that THIS is a prosperous place and, therefore, an excellent place to invest by building your home or starting your own business. The humble oyster stall is elevated when set against the backdrop of our magnificent Town Hall— the latter bestowing an air of confidence that gives the startup vendor an extra boost. Those who came before us in this town put these buildings here to encourage growth, commerce, and vibrant civic life around them. Flavor Fest showed how powerful this setting is as a place for town life.
People Don’t Come for the Parking
The organizers of the event pedestrianized several blocks, removing on-street parking for personal cars, AND had the audacity not to provide on-site parking next to the event for anyone who might possibly drive there. We broke the laws of Parking Minimum Pseudoscience! For an event that we knew could have 500 people, we should’ve had at least 400 parking spaces, right? At about 320 square feet per space, according to Parking Minimum Gospel, we should have had about 128K square feet or about 3 acres of parking set aside for the event. But we didn’t! (To be fair, there was one 10-ish car lot a few blocks away that people were told they could use). Anyone steeped in Parking Minimum Gospel would expect that our event would have been an utter failure and, worse, led to massive traffic jams, mass hysteria, and carnage in the streets. And yet, due to our flouting of the Laws of Parking Minimums… we had a great event with a great turnout. People figured out how to get themselves there. No one complained to us about a lack of parking. And because the event was in the Center, most attendees could walk, bike, or roll there. Say it with me now, “people don’t come for the parking!”
It’s People that Make our Town Center Vibrant
To review so far: Food is a big draw. Parking is not. Beautiful public buildings set the stage. But the biggest draw by far is… all of us! That’s right— people like to go to places to see other people! Flavor Fest was far more than the sum of its parts because it was a community event where neighbors ran into each other and hung out while waiting (too long, I know) for delicious arepas. I lost my kid to a roving pack of her friends, only to find her at the end of the event rocking out:
Our Center was built as a place for people— the more people out walking there, the more vibrant its streets, the more viable its businesses, and the more valuable its land. And, judging by the response to Flavor Fest, the more fun it is to be there.
What We Should Take Away from Flavor Fest
Viewed as an experiment, Flavor Fest gives us clues about how to increase foot traffic and the subsequent viability of our Center. We need our downtown to have a wider variety of dining options and gathering spaces. We need to capitalize on the majesty of our beautiful buildings, which, as in most great town centers, provide the backdrop for vibrant street life. We need to prioritize people over free public car storage. And we need to encourage people to walk around and linger in our Center— thus attracting even more people in a virtuous cycle.
There have been many calls to make Food Truck Flavor Fest an annual event. And I hope it is, at least in some form. But more importantly, I hope we follow the clues it gave us. Rather than merely replicating a one-time event, we should ask how we can increase dining and gathering spaces in the Center, capitalize on the grandeur of our great buildings, and generate even more foot traffic in the heart of town. If we want vibrant streets and long-term financial sustainability for our town, these are the questions our town leaders need to focus on.