Staff Writer
If there’s one thing Nevada City does well, it’s celebrate. And on May 28 the historic downtown district will host the Village Market Sidewalk Sale, where merchants will have racks and tables outside with great bargains on coveted merchandise.
“It’s an event we have done for several years now but it’s been reimagined this year a little bit to focus more on the sidewalk sale,” said Lynn Skrukrud of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce. “In the past we’ve had a lot of vendors and music and different things and this year we are really just focusing on good deals from merchants, and more merchants will be out on the street offering sale items and really great products. It’s a really great opportunity to come downtown and snag some deals on some of your favorite products.”
Sunday’s event will be kept strictly to the sidewalks and will not impede traffic, nor will it require any street closures. In previous years, the Village Market event has taken up more of the streets.
“We really want the emphasis to be on our downtown merchants who are here every day and working really hard,” Skrukrud said. “They had a really rough winter with all of the snow so we really want the emphasis to be on the downtown businesses who make downtown what it is.
“It was definitely a rough winter for all of our businesses, not just downtown but all of our businesses in the community where a lot of us were busy digging out our driveways, and our downtown businesses had to not only dig out their driveway they had to come into town and dig out their stores. They were without power, without internet. It took a long time for recovery.”
Because of the storms, Skrukrud said the first three months of the year were exceptionally challenging.
“What we heard from businesses is in the past from snow it would be a couple days and it would bounce back,” she said. “But this time it was weeks on end, and another snow storm after another. So really the first three months of the year it was really difficult for our businesses. They are all locally owned, small mom and pop shops so for them they don’t have the ability to withstand so much down time. So we encourage the community as much as possible to come out and support those businesses.”
Skrukrud and the staff at Nevada City Chamber of Commerce are excited for the Village Market Sidewalk Sale to launch off what is looking to be a fun and festive summer for the downtown area.
“Art walk is coming up June 2,” Skrukrud said. “It will be our first Art Walk of the summer and that would be the first Friday of each month from June through August.
“Summer Nights is the last three Wednesdays in July, so it’s July 12, 19, and 26 so it’s another great summer opportunity. That’s our big street fair where the streets are closed down and we have over 50 vendors plus five stages of entertainment. We have three musical stages and a dance stage and a special activities stage that will feature our fire dancers and aerial dancers and drumming groups.”
For more information on Village Market Sidewalk Sale—taking place May 28—or for general information regarding downtown Nevada City activities and events, please visit nevadacitychamber.com.