I fell in love with our Downtown Pleasanton this past week. I have always loved our downtown, but evey once in a while, you have one of those heart-tugging moments, when you feel so thankful to be a part of this amazing town. This, my friends, is how I am feeling right now.
As many of you know, Thriving Ink was involved in a few events last week. Our family has always prided ourselves on being a destination shop, but now we are beginning to be able to actually spread the word through other events.
Last Monday, the city of Pleasanton hosted it’s first Movies In the Park. I met with the city to present our idea for Movies In the Park, sponsored by us, of course. But, what turned out was even better than we could have hoped for.
With just a few of our ideas, the city set off to create an incredible event. If you missed it, then you missed an opportunity to fall in love with Pleasanton, particularly Downtown, all over again. As we set up our popcorn machine, to serve what turned out to be 300 bags of free popcorn (whew!), we saw families begin to set up their blankets, coolers, sleeping bags, pillows, food, and lots of good drinks!
The evening began with a nice greeting from our lovely mayor, Ms. Hosterman. She casually came to the movie with her dog, in her comfy clothes (what a great small town!). Also, our city manager was there, beeming with passion, as always. He had laid out his blanket hours before!
The popcorn line was always at least a 15 minute wait, yet noone seemed to mind waiting under the stars, while watching the 27 foot inflatable screen playing Kung Fu Panda. As the evening progressed, kids cuddled up in their sleeping bags, with their parents; dates snuggled under the stars and friends sipped their favorite drink while enjoying the evening.
What a great first event! I can only imagine what next week’s will be like! See you next Thursday, July 24th for The Wizard of Oz. The movie is being played in DeLucci Park, right next door to Thriving Ink & Co! Be sure to come downtown early, and support one or two local business’. Have dinner out at Café Main, pick up some ice cream at the Meadowlark Dairy or chocolate at Gourmet Works and head on over to the Park! If you are bringing your dog (leashed, please), stop by Murphy’s Paw, then Thriving Ink. We love dogs! Then we will be out there serving FREE popcorn all evening, so come by and say hello.
Special thanks from Thriving Ink to Nelson, Pamela, Susan and Joanne from the city of Pleasanton, for all of their hard work to make this incredible event possible for our Downtown. I envision many more great events coming down the line thanks to the city, PDA and the Downtown merchants!
We can’t wait to see you there!!
Movies In the Park in Downtown P-town…
Ready for the Farmer’s Market in Downtown Pleasanton….think I will grab a pastry from my favorite pastry lady before I open the shop! I love Saturday mornings….
I am really going to try to do it. I am really going to try to blog. Most of my friends are probably giggling right now, as they read this. They know me. They know that I have the patience of a, well, I don’t even have the patience to think of something to compare it to… you get the idea.
One of the things that I do find so fun to discuss, is the pure passion that is occupying the hearts of some many merchants in the downtown Pleasanton area. Once I opened our shop, Thriving Ink & Co., I decided to was important for me to get involved in the downtown activities and groups. I joined the PDA ( Pleasanton Downtown Assoc.) and the Downtown Merchant Marketing Group. You know what is so exciting?? Even our city manager and community development director have the very same passion as all of us! They are very involved in the change you will be seeing downtown!
As many of you know, the downtown has seemed to be at a standstill for the past few years. There really wasn’t much of a draw, besides the shopping, amazing food and a few great events. However, there needs to be more to make a downtown vibrant. In Pleasanton, we need to have more activities, events and more retail! Although service business’, salons, spas, banks, etc.. is an incredibly important part of a thriving downtown, the actual placement of these business’ is important to the ‘strolling’ aspect of a successful downtown. Do you agree?
Have you been downtown lately? You are going to be seeing lots of change! Just in the summer alone, there are so many amazing events planned. Some of them include:
…and more….
What a great line-up for our downtown!
And at Thriving Ink & Co?
….well you get the hint. So, nothing to do this summer? Head downtown. You won’t be disappointed….
