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Business Insider
Bill Freehling is a business writer for The Free Lance-Star and Fredericksburg.com. This blog is on Fredericksburg-area business. Send an e-mail to Bill Freehling.
Survey sheds light on what residents want downtown
Oktoberfest 2009
Restaurants are perhaps the biggest draw for downtown Fredericksburg, and most people believe having a courthouse in the central business district is a positive. And of all the events held downtown, Oktoberfest is one of the most popular.
Those were among the results of a large survey conducted by seven members of the local Chamber of Commerce’s most recent Leadership Fredericksburg program.
Participants in the Leadership Fredericksburg program, whose sixth class will start this fall, are split into groups to explore issues facing the community. Last fall a group consisting of Gene Brown, Courtney Chapman-Thomas, Roger Carroll, Alan Edwards, Ann Lewis, Wayne Perry and Leigh Snyder were asked to come up with an economic restructuring strategy for downtown.
Team members sent out the 27-question survey to a variety of business owners, strangers, friends, neighbors, work colleagues and more. It was posted on Fredericksburg.com and in the Fredericksburg Business Insider newsletter. They received 1,103 responses, as well as more than 100 pages of comments.
Their work touches on a number of currently controversial topics regarding downtown, which has thrust the survey into the spotlight. The team will present the data and their recommendations to the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority and any interested members of the public at 8:30 a.m. Monday in City Council chambers.
About a third of the survey respondents live in the city of Fredericksburg, and nearly three quarters live in areas with either 22401, 22405, 22407 or 22408 ZIP codes. The demographics of the respondents match up with the U.S. Census results for the region, said Snyder, the team leader and an assistant vice president at Virginia Partners Bank.
About 95 percent of the respondents said they go downtown. Restaurants were the biggest draw, followed by shopping. Many said that longer hours, more festivals and outdoor events, and better businesses would bring them downtown more often.
About 77 percent of the respondents said they thought having a courthouse or municipal building downtown was positive. City Council has been debating that matter during the planning process for the new Circuit Court facility on Princess Anne Street.
The annual Christmas Parade was the most commonly attended downtown event, followed by First Friday and Oktoberfest. About 51 percent of the respondents to that question said they attend Oktoberfest. Many Caroline Street merchants have asked the city not to allow Capital Ale House’s Oktoberfest celebration this year because they say it hurts their business.
Many respondents want to see a movie theater, grocery store and national retailers downtown.
The Leadership Fredericksburg team members at the Monday meeting will give specific recommendations as to how they think downtown can be improved.
