The Hammonton Gazette 01/29/20 Edition | Page 5

HRC, MainStreet want to spur growth of downtown visitors, customers Page 4 • Wednesday, January 29, 2020 • The Hammonton Gazette HRC, from Page 1 We didn’t lose many businesses, and we still brought in busi- nesses,” MainStreet Hammonton executive Director Cassie iacov- elli said. HrC President richard rehmann said that the review of 2019 then led to several questions that helped shape the course of the conversation for the retreat and, consequently, goals for the coming year. “What can we change? What do we need to get rid of? What’s not working? What’s working? What can be enhanced?” rehmann said. One topic of discussion was the idea of strengthening the link be- tween the atlantic City rail Line and its draw from the Philadelphia region to the downtown. “We did spend some time talk- ing about the importance of the na- ture walk that goes from the train station into the downtown, and the opportunity that, as we consider the importance of nature and nat- ural appeal, that walkway has re- ally good potential to make it interesting, maybe with native flowers and shrubbery,” iacovelli said. rehmann said that the need for a hotel in Hammonton was also a topic of conversation. iacovelli noted that such a business proba- bly wouldn’t be in the downtown area, but she explained why a hotel—or even a bed-and-break- fast—is an idea worth exploring. “We’re not capitalizing on a unique opportunity with our town and especially the connection to the downtown, and that is through the soccer tournaments. We lose all those people. they come into our town, and then they just leave because they have no place to stay, and therefore other communities are reaping the economic benefits because we’re not in a position to do so,” iacovelli said. Having hotel space would also help keep out-of-state tourists in the area for longer periods of time, such as those from Philadelphia. iacovelli said that facebook statis- tics show that the number two at- traction with their facebook outreach is the Philadelphia mar- ket. Much of that credit, iacovelli said, is due to the eagle theatre, but added there are other reasons. “there is a real interest for many of the reasons many of us move here; it’s a quiet community, it’s not as traffic-driven, we’re close to nature being surrounded by the Pine Barrens, we have agri- culture, we have craft breweries, we have wineries, so i think we all recognize that we have a complete package to sell as we move for- ward to create interesting experi- ences that continue to draw people to our town,” iacovelli said. rehmann was quick to point out that the focus isn’t strictly on in- creasing tourism but also raising the amount of local traffic in the area. “We would like to increase the level of local participation in the downtown, in the sense of getting people to shop locally to a greater level; doing what we feel we need to do to help the economic viabil- ity of the stores and shops, which might be even advocating for a greater diversity of food or expe- riences or other elements in order to enhance that. if we have work to do on our side, we want to make sure we’re putting that work in,” rehmann said. One of those other elements rehmann mentioned involves ex- ploring some manner of down- town sound opportunities—the ability to have music during the holidays and so forth. “We have somebody working on the future of the electric light posts that are going to be coming into our downtown a couple of years from now, and the ability to include Wi-fi sound in that com- ponent. We’ve been exploring ways to provide sound for events that make more sense than what See DOWNTOWN, Page 17 SOLD! 800 S. White Horse Pike (Crowley Center), P.O. Box 1119 • Hammonton • 561-0505 • [email protected] • www.CrowleyCarr.com Congratulations LEEANN & JASON LONGO on the purchase of your home! Thank you for putting your trust in Crowley & Carr. “The Best Place in Town to Find the Best Place in Town.” With nearly 30 years in business, who better to guide you on all your Real Estate needs than the CROWLEY & CARR REAL ESTATE TEAM!