The Sidewalk Arts Festival is this weekend in downtown Sioux Falls. It's a sign that Fall is on its way. It's a sign that downtown Sioux Falls continues to be a vibrant and alive place to go.
The ARGUS LEADER reports today that up to 40,000 people will crowd the streets around the Washington Pavilion, which by the way, is in downtown Sioux Falls.
Where oh where will all these people park?
How will all these cars be able to get in and out of the downtown area with the lack of interstate highway access and 4 lane streets?
The argument about the inaccessibility of an Event Center downtown has a hollow ring to it.
The Argus says UP TO 40,000 people. I'd really like to know how they guesstimate that number. Do these Argus guesstimators have turnstiles set up at all the possible entrance points? I have worked this event several times in the recent past for the entire eight hours it is open. I have also been to real "EVENTS" where 40,000 or more attend. No way does this event attract 40,000 people. Another classic case of the Argus overselling something. Kinda like ALL that outside money you reference in your "SHOW ME THE MONEY" post.
ReplyDeleteAnd the easy accessible parking for these 40,000 attendees? That also, as you say, rings hollow. Nearly all of the city's public parking lies within a couple of blocks of this event. The same cannot be said of the Eastbank Cherapa site. And a few thousand cars coming and going for eight hours is not exactly the same as your 12,000 rabid Britney Spears fans exiting an "EVENT" at the same time.
We look forward to tonite's German Fest. Go every year. Will prolly walk several blocks to get there. If German Fest were held in January, or February would I walk that same number of blocks to drink 40 cents an ounce beer? Not likely. As lifelong residents, we know the ins and outs of DT Sioux Falls. The same cannot be said of the typical out of town Spears fans here for the first time. They might go to an event ONCE in DT, but not likely again. The parking and pure logistics of exiting would be a nightmare one would likely only endure once.
Polly Amalo
I agree with Polly AND Jen on this one. On Jen's side, I will say if you are familiar with SF and DT, finding a parking spot is not hard, there is plenty of parking DT. But to Polly's point, podunks from out of town have trouble finding parking unless they can pull right up to the front gate. Here lies one of the problems of DT.
ReplyDeleteI worked as a lead usher at the Pav the first 4 years it was open, and the biggest complaint you would hear from (out-of-towners) when they would walk thru the door was, 'There is no parking! Or there is metered parking.' I would point to them that the parking ramp is right there. They didn't seem to grasp that concept. Then they would complain about the metered parking in front of the Pav, I would remind them that the parking was FREE on nights and weekends. They didn't seem to get that concept either (another reason why I think tearing out all the parking meters DT would be a boon for DT) Every night I worked a show volunteers and I would get a good chuckle, not only out of the people filling the meters out front, but the people who were trying to get a paper stub out of the entrance gate into the ramp.
It amazes me that same people who walked several miles to country school, walking beans or herding cattle, can't walk a couple of blocks to an event. Ironic. Huh?
OK Scott--I have to say that I am with you here. I used to take one of the 7-10 "across the street" parking spots at my local grocery/hardware store. There were also 7-10 spots on the side of the street where the front door was. People would say--"you parked clear over here?" I would think--it is WAY closer to the front door than I could get at ANY Walmart or mall. But I would answer "yes, I'm going to walk over to the bank next." (Which also sometimes drew funny looks--because most people DROVE the block from the grocery store to the bank--and then planned to park right in front of the door there too. LOL)
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