Despite Pandemic, Uptown Moundsville Activity Committee Stronger Than Ever
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WHEELING -- Loyalty is strong between the small businesses that make up the Uptown Moundsville Activity Committee, and the UMAC came out of the COVID-19 pandemic with more members than it went in with.
UMAC President Laura Francis said the businesses on Jefferson Avenue had to get creative with how they engaged with customers, in lieu of their annual Fall festival.
"Last year, because of the pandemic, we couldn't have our fall festival that we normally have," she said. "I thought, let's reroute, do something different to still get people to come out here, so we started the sidewalk sales."
The sidewalk sales persisted into the fall and returned this spring. While the 2020 sales aimed for the first or second weekends of the month, with the return of outdoor events facilitated through the city's Arts and Culture Commission, sidewalk sales are more aimed to coincide with the city's events, such as Jefferson Fridays.
"This year, we've been just gearing it around if there's an activity in town and doing it back to back, or a holiday," she said. "(Recently) was a Father's Day sidewalk sale, and we're going to pull a name for a grill giveaway."
Colby Black was selected as the winner of the grill.
The next sidewalk sale is set for the third Saturday of July, coinciding with the Marshall County Fair, and then again on August 28.
The Fall festival is set to return in September, with food trucks, craft vendors, and live entertainment returning to Jefferson Avenue. Ten years since its inception, Francis estimates around 75 vendors.
"I think we'll probably have a thousand or more people that usually come, but this year, we're going to expand and spread it more out on the street," she said. "It'll still be on Jefferson, but we'll expand it to where we could have more vendors, but more room for them. ... We've always had more room, we've given them an expansion on it.
"… Traditionally, the reason the UMAC started the Fall Festival was to let people know we exist here. It's good PR in that sense, and it helps out the town, too, having a big event."
The UMAC had been a whirlwind of activity for businesses even during the last year, with businesses coming to fruition and opening in the early phases of the pandemic, and others expanding to fill vacancies. Francis, who owns Buried Treasures, described the pandemic as among the best times for her business, a common sentiment among her peers.
"There were a lot of businesses in the midst of the pandemic that were getting ready to open, or that were expanding, and then, boom, that happened," Francis said. "A lot of them are like, what do we do? I'll be honest -- I had the best business I ever had. When I speak to everybody, it's the same deal. I don't know if it's because everyone was cooped up, or they're re-evaluating what they want to purchase.
"I think a lot of people, they would say to me, 'I got my stimulus money, I should be buying this and that.' I'd say to them, you're only helping the economy, and if you don't buy something for yourself, or make it about yourself, what's the purpose? You have to buy yourself something."
Some businesses which had closed during the pandemic, Francis said, remain members of the UMAC and continue paying dues.
The UMAC also handles the aesthetics of the first several blocks of Jefferson Avenue, including the hanging baskets and hero banners. Past Fifth Street, Francis said, the Moundsville Historic Landmarks Commission will be continuing the hero banners through the rest of town.