How Do We Bring People to the Crossroads On non First Fridays?

[ComandanteCero]

Just wondering, i know someone mentioned they'd been to a meeting where the X-roads community association discussed trying to break up the First Friday gallery walk over the month so as to diffuse the crowds a bit.  (it wasn't that big a problem this past FF, but the past two were packed, and uncomfortably so inside the galleries).

I was driving by today and noticed there's some kind of outdoor mini farmer's market (?) at 18th and Wyandotte.  I guess it happens every Wednesday.  Anywho i thought this was cool, and it looked like it had a nice amount of people milling around.

Anywho, one idea could be splitting things up so that the First Friday is concentrated on the West Crossroads, and Second Fridays were concentrated in the East Crossroads (this would leave Third Fridays for the South Loop).  Fourth Fridays can be for something else i guess (maybe the 18th and Vine area should try to jump on this and create an open air Jazz market). 

Anyone else got any ideas?

[ignatius]

The best way to increase traffic on a daily basis is to of course have more residents.  I think you are talking about near Local Harvest.  There are two condo projects on that block so that should help improve daily traffic.  I do like the idea of more smaller events though.  I haven't been able to make the last few FFs.

[Tosspot]

Infill Infill Infill. There are still relatively sizable gaping holes in the streetscape throughout the Crossroads. One notable exception is 18th & Wyandotte where Local Harvest is,  as both Comandante and Ignatius mentioned. The reason 18th & Wyandotte is essentially the streetlife epicenter of the Crossroads is because it exhibits the basic fundamentals of urban design I'm always ranting about-- streetlevel retail mixed with residential. Of course, there's more to making the retail base of a neighborhood than whole foods stores and naughty panty shops, but at least it's a start.

[ignatius]

The 18th/Wyandotte block is developing very similarly to what I've seen in Asheville NC, the most impressive grassroots downtown revitalization I've ever seen.  There are no Starbucks, Gaps, entertainment districts, etc. and instead lots of cool record stores, modern rock/dance clubs, specialty stores, galleries, bong shops, bizarre trinket shops, hip furniture stores, all locally owned - hundreds of stores/restaurants crammed into many downtown blocks. It's all adult earthy people and students and few yuppies as there are almost no corporate jobs in town, though the RTP yups hit Asheville on the weekends.  W39th and W Westport is like that a bit but Xroads has much more potential to hit the degree of larger scale grassroots district like Asheville's downtown.

But I suspect KC will allow more commercial encroachment.  And of course a pro-commercial city govt may dimish grassroots efforts.  I hope that Xroads maintains a slow growing grassroots demeanor than sell the soul to commercial development for the sake of increasing foot traffic faster.  Let the P&L District do that instamatic downtown push and keep Xroads' slow, meaningful growth.

[trailerkid]

Ahhh...I might be completely crazy, but why don't the galleries just stay open every Friday night and just schedule the openings throughout the entire month?

[tat2kc]

The openings are scheduled thoughout the month, not just on FF.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I was driving by today and noticed there's some kind of outdoor mini farmer's market (?) at 18th and Wyandotte.  I guess it happens every Wednesday.  Anywho i thought this was cool, and it looked like it had a nice amount of people milling around.

The market that you saw is indeed the newish weekly xroads farmers market and not just Local Harvest as was suggested  They do this every Wednesday now.  Hammerpress had some very nice farmer's market posters when I was last in. 

[chrizow]

here's the thing:

a huge percentage of the people that pack the streets at First Friday have no desire to be in the Crossroads unless it is First Friday.  that is when the Crossroads is Plaza-ized so yuppies and corporate types can cohort.  these are not the people packing the galleries, they are the people standing around drinking beer.  they don't care when gallery openings are, and could care less about YJ's or Spool.

if you really want to get the yuppie set down to the Crossroads regularly, you'll have to open up some yuppiefied/frat-ish bars, a la Harpo's or Kelly's.  i for one do not want to see that happen.  

the only way to get people to the Crossroads that don't already live there is to foster development that appeals to a fairly broad range of people - restaurants and retail over and above vintage stores and panty shops.  

until KC builds up a critical mass of bohemian-minded folks willing to go hang out in the Crossroads just to be there, the Crossroads will have to accomodate more staid types.

what i would like to see is a large, independent bookstore and newstand (like a more edgy Borders) that is open late (and maybe even serves alcohol?).  bookstores seem to be a magnet for people to linger and browse and a good, unique one (not a B+N or Borders) could serve as a strong magnet for literary suburbanites and CBD-workers.  

also, i think the P+L District will succeed in getting folks to come to the South Loop that wouldn't normally come there.  that will almost certainly lead some to explore the neighboring blocks and discover something that suits them.

asheville is a good example of grassroots, independent development, but unlike KC asheville is very small and there is little delineation b/w downtown and the suburban areas.  there isn't that psychological and physical chasm between the burbs and downtown, and there probably isn't the "downtown is dead and scary" mentality that has plagued KC for decades.  

[Slappy the Wang]

Anyone else got any ideas?



"TWO WORDS................... SPORTS BAR!"
-Jackson County

[staubio]

The market that you saw is indeed the newish weekly xroads farmers market and not just Local Harvest as was suggested  They do this every Wednesday now.  Hammerpress had some very nice farmer's market posters when I was last in. 

Another Farmer's Market?  Is this the new hotness to bring attention to neighborhoods or what?  You've got the real[/] farmer's market in the City Market and you've got everyone and their dog with their own. Overland Park, Merriam, Brookside, Crossroads, Lenexa, etc, etc.  Do these smaller Farmer's Market's dimish from each other?

[chrizow]

Another Farmer's Market?  Is this the new hotness to bring attention to neighborhoods or what?  You've got the real[/] farmer's market in the City Market and you've got everyone and their dog with their own. Overland Park, Merriam, Brookside, Crossroads, Lenexa, etc, etc.  Do these smaller Farmer's Market's dimish from each other?

i think City Market serves as THE farmer's market in the metro, and also serves the nearby residents.  the smaller ones are smaller and local in nature and serve the neighborhood. 

the JoCo ones probably impact each other, the Crossroads one seems too small to impact anything, and City Market stands head and shoulders above the rest as a proto-First Friday urban experience.  people go to City Market just to walk around and MAYBE buy something..  i doubt people go to the Overland Park market to people-watch and spend their morning. 

the suburban markets are just markets.  the City Market is a city icon that also happens to sell onions, homemade picnic baskets, and bootleg reggae cassettes. 

[LenexatoKCMO]

Personally I think the xroads market is a good idea.  It helps reinforce the neighborhood as a residential area.  I don't think it is likely to take anything away from the city market either.  The neighborhood folks that will regularly pick up produce here midweek are pretty sure bets to also drop by the city market over the weekend. 

The folks that choose to go to the suburban markets probably weren't the sort to come downtown in the first place.