Festival helps businesses improve

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Community festivals often provide a weekend of fun, but one festival has found a way to extend the benefits it provides to its host community far beyond a paltry few days.

Part of the proceeds from the 18th annual Dancing in the Streets festival in downtown Lafayette-West Lafayette will pay for local business owners to learn new ways to keep their businesses thriving.

These business owners will be sent to Jon Schallert's Destination Business Bootcamp in Longmont, Colorado, which some have already attended. The business owners learn strategies to make their businesses stronger - including promoting the businesses around them.

Ivan Brumbaugh, owner of Main Street Wine and Cheese in Lafayette, attended in March. He said that when he learned about the Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association's tuition-paid trip to Colorado for Destination Boot Camp, he jumped at the offer.

Brumbaugh said the experience helped him keep his business thriving even in tough economic times.

One point the bootcamp reinforced was how much cross-promotion could do for the health of the downtown area and all of the businesses in it.

"How do we get people to come downtown, to visit our shops and restaurants? And that's where Jon really helps," said Brumbaugh.

Even though Brumbaugh's own business has improved dramatically since he attended, he says the primary goal is to make downtown Lafayette a 'destination.'

"We cross-promote everybody," said Brumbaugh. "We say, 'Oh, have you been across the street? Have you gone over to the coffee shop? Have you gone to the antique shop? Have you been down to the bakery?'"

Brumbaugh said that customers who come to a business in the surrounding area will probably come to his store too. The idea, he said, is to encourage customers to come to the whole area, rather than to one specific location.

Not all the suggestions at the camp were community-oriented, however. Brumbaugh said the bootcamp helped him think outside the box when it came to his own business, the Main Street Wine & Cheese store.

"One of his ideas was, 'If it's not broke, break it!,'" said Brumbaugh. "If you go in the same store and eat the same hot dog everyday, you're going to get tired of that hot dog."

Brumbaugh said he has taken that advice and broken some old habits. He's begun offering a wider selection of international foods and cheeses. He plans to add a new country to his food selection each year, starting with Italy this year.

Brumbaugh said one new offering has been a favorite with customers: the wine slushy.

"It's different, so people are now saying, 'Man, if you want a good wine slushy, you gotta go up to Main Street and get it.' So, that's the kind of thing. Break it. Don't just let it get routine," said Baumbaugh.

So far, the Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association has paid tuition for nine business owners in downtown Lafayette and West Lafayette to attend the Boot Camp.