Come early, stay late: Carson City loves company

For the second year in a row, the Office of Business Development opened the Curry Street Promenade, 16 weeks of free downtown events including outdoor concerts, family activities and a farmers

market.

Last Friday the first free outdoor concert opened on Third Street and lit up the venue with summer fun. This Friday night promises the same with the world beats of Kaweh.

Also last Friday, 82 beautiful flower baskets were hung in downtown courtesy of the Carson City Downtown Consortium. This group is determined to keep downtown beautiful, prosperous, community-focused, safe, green and, all together, create a heart of the community that reflects well on the entire community.

Weekly family activities every Saturday begin June 27 with the farmers market in the Third Street parking lot and Family Pop Up Park in the plaza of the Brewery Arts Center.

Downtown Carson City's Web site, www.downtowncar

soncity.com, offers information on concerts, artists, farmers market specials and related events, pop up park family activity specials, restaurant information, business development news and more.

The Curry Street Promenade activities show how downtown comes to life and supports the economy when the streets are hubs of weekend activity that invite people to walk or bike and enjoy the after-hours and weekend businesses.

The Redevelopment Authority has supported improvements in event infrastructure, staging, lighting, programming and promotions.

"This has definitely raised the standard for downtown's outdoor music and activities," said Brewery Arts Center's executive director, John Procaccini. "Quality event planning, programming and management creates a win-win for business and the city."

Carson City is at a pivotal point in determining its future, and city leaders are obligated to make good on the community's master plan expectations that point to focusing on downtown.

Events, cleanliness and beauty must remain today's priority.

The quality events put on over many years by our Convention and Visitors Bureau and the more recent success of the Downtown Business Association's Wine Walk and Beer Crawl have all inspired downtown energy. This energy is keeping businesses open.

Our community's things to do offerings are at a new level. Residents are saying loudly: We like our downtown, want to enjoy it and hang out there, show it off and share emerging opportunities.

Construction of the I-580 freeway is a driving change for our entire region. It is vital that we provide information to keep the community posted on both civic and commercial investment, and explain how the public entities and private businesses are working together toward the master plan goals.

I encourage anyone interested in this very important moment in time for all of Carson City to visit www.

downtownanswers.com or call me directly at 887-2101 ext. 3.

In an effort to help ensure the growth we get is the growth we want, it is encouraging to see the number of citizens who believe in the value of downtown redevelopment and have rolled up their sleeves to show it.

• Tammy Westergard is deputy manager of the CarsonCity Office of Business Development.