Marketing downtown White Bear Lake

White Bear Lake's 18-year-old Marketfest has proven a success, drawing thousands to the city's core business district each week.

By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune

Last update: July 22, 2008 - 5:46 PM

It's Thursday night in downtown White Bear Lake, and hundreds of people are strolling the streets, browsing 150 vendor booths selling everything from organic hot dogs to original art.

A cluster of men mingle near the Packards and Model T at the classic car area. Children jump with abandon inside an inflatable pink castle, or head to the petting zoo. A jazz band and rock band draw their respective crowds.

It's all part of Marketfest, a downtown redevelopment scheme launched 18 years ago that is still going strong.

Every Thursday night, roughly 4,000 to 5,000 people head to the festival, which also features a farmers market, covered wagon rides, a climbing wall, and merchandise from local vendors and downtown stores.

The White Bear Lake tradition draws people from across the east metro area, who say it re-creates the feeling of a small town. It runs from mid June to the end of July.

"I like it that people are really friendly here," said Susan Lahr, of Blaine, who enjoys the festival so much that she brought her neighbor and his two boys last week.

"I come here because it's fun. I like to browse in the shops, and I like the food."

Meanwhile, her neighbor, Doug Townley, was eying the vintage cars parked across the street. His young sons had their own priorities -- finding the corn dog stand that they could smell was nearby.

The idea to create a major festival goes back 20 years, to a time when about 40 percent of the downtown storefronts were vacant, said Mark Sather, city manager.

A consultant urged the city to start something special to draw people downtown. A member of the city development corporation at that time remembered attending a Marketfest in Santa Rosa, Calif., Sather said. So the city made a few calls.

Santa Rosa was happy to talk about its successes, Sather said. It provided information on how to start a festival, promote it, attract vendors, create contracts with them and more.

"But they told us, don't expect a lot of people to come through your [storefront] doors those first nights," Sather said. "Put some stuff on the streets. Make your windows look attractive. The idea was, if you get people downtown, they'd come back another time and shop."

Over the years, White Bear Lake has paid it forward, sharing its expertise on creating a Marketfest with cities in Wisconsin and Minnesota, he said.

That said, the festival is always being tweaked to respond to participants' requests and to keep it an attractive and interesting place to visit, said festival coordinator Lisa Beecroft.

For example, a recent survey showed that the biggest reason people came to the festival was to hear music, Beecroft said. So the city is trying to ramp up the quality of music on its two stages. That quality was not lost to Marketfest newcomer Ned Delk, who was clapping to the smooth jazz of Davina and the Vagabonds last week.

Delk, of Chisago City, had suggested that he spend his birthday at Marketfest, said his wife, Carol.

Sather said the founders of Marketfest never pondered whether the event would last eight or 18 years. But he's pleased that the tradition has helped make downtown White Bear Lake a vibrant place.

Said Sather: "For a suburban community, we think it's a major accomplishment."

Jean Hopfensperger • 651-298-1553

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