 Welcome to the Burlington Mayor's show for the month of May. Thanks for joining us. We have a exciting show ahead. We're gonna be talking about all of the Burlington events that are coming up this summer. We have a very busy summer plan for the downtown and the waterfront. Perhaps a record-breaking year in terms of events, something like 140 events taking place from May until October. This is an effort that we are doing for multiple reasons. I think maybe the biggest thing is it's time to get people together again. It's time to have downtown Burlington and this waterfront fully reopened after two very challenging years. We also really wanna do everything we can to help the downtown business community, which has been through the ups and downs of the pandemic for the last couple of years. We really wanna do everything we can, especially with these emergency resources that we have to help with the economic recovery. We also, as has been a big discussion in the last few weeks, saw some public safety issues last summer, some incidents that we wanna have a different kind of summer this time. And one thing we know about downtown Burlington is that when it's full and alive and full of positive events, that we see less of those problematic kind of incidents. So, here to talk about this exciting summer with me today are two of our great, two great members of the Burlington Department Head team. We have Cindy White, who is the Director of the Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront Department. And also Kara Al-Nasrawi, who has for several years now, more than two years, two and a half years, been the Church Tree Marketplace Director and is in process of becoming the Director of a new department that she's really been running it for the last couple years. We're formalizing this in the budget process we're going through right now. We are the business support and workforce development department. And Kara has also been had this sort of related hat on for some time now of running our ARPA. All these emergency funds that are coming through the city, Kara's in the leadership role, kind of point person on making that process, all the, everything involved in that work. So, thank you both for being here tonight. I know Kara, you've got a couple slides. Do you want to kind of kick things off with kind of walk us through? Are these slides going to show? Oh, there we go, perfect. I mean, but what do you think about it too? What a night to be doing this show. It's like blue sky, sunny fountains going at City Hall Park. So it's like the great like background for talking about all the great events going on in downtown. It definitely is, it definitely is. Okay, so obviously these are some of the participating departments and parts of the city that are supporting all these events. I won't go through all of these individually, but I will just highlight some of them. A lot of these 140 events are taking place in City Hall Park. A lot of these things to BCA are just very interesting and diverse. So we've got Splash Dance, which is something geared towards children. We have summer concert series. So when you're having your lunch out there during the day, you have some music to listen to. We have an evening concert series. We have movies in the park. We have local art groups and we have TED Talk style speeches and discussions in the park, which really we found, we started some of those last summer and we found that they really bring people in and people sort of huddle in a circle and it's a really nice way to exchange ideas. And of course, new this year is our BTV Market. That starts on July, excuse me, June 4th, right around the corner for us. That is going to be made up of artists, makers and small food producers. We are having 50 vendors, rotating vendors, so different ones each week, some repeating, some not. Every Saturday from 11 to three, there will also be family games out there. Think Giant Size Connect Four. There will be picnic blankets that you can grab and use. We will have live music. We will have other games for children in the fountain, which is obviously like one of our best resources that we have there. And so that is 18 Saturdays in a row and we're really looking forward to that and so hoping to have you guys come and join us. I might just forward on a little more. What are we talking about? So you're totally right. It was a beautiful day downtown and the park looked great. The park looked great. The furniture was out, the grass was well just cut. It was like a scene out of a poster today. All sorts of different. I think there was a lot of people. I don't know if there was a concert today or why it seemed like there was something on there. I think that we're starting to kick off. We were testing our sound equipment this afternoon. I saw groups of lots of little children that were just coming through. I don't know if they came from the wire, King Street Center, but it's just, it's great to see that use of City Hall Park and one of the things I thought about when I was seeing those groups of toddlers coming through the park was, can you imagine being a leader of that when you have a fountain going, that spring water on a warm day and you're asking those kids to walk through and not hit the fountain. You wonder how many of them, you know, just couldn't resist. I know sometimes they take it. They couldn't resist. They're taking it right through something. Sometimes it's just a destination. That's true. It might have been a purposeful, with a change of clothes back there. Stacy, my wife, you know, works at the King Street Center and they sometimes lead groups just to get to the fountain. Let's talk a little bit more about this BTV market, really big, new initiative. I actually, I'm not sure I quite understood. So how many, some of the vendors will be repeating some not. Over the course of the 18 Saturdays, how many different vendors do you think will on the other? Over the course of the 18 Saturdays, I think we're at 120 vendors. Wow. So it's really something new each week for people to come back for. Something new each week. There are some, we made it a flexible model. So if some vendors say, you know, maybe they produce baked goods, let's say, and they can only do that a few times during the summer because of their own personal schedule, they can just book three Saturdays during the summer. We do have some artists and makers who wanna be there every Saturday. And as you know, we've had a vibrant artist market in City Hall Park for years and some of those artists are used to coming every Saturday, so they signed up for the whole season. But we wanted to make it flexible for those who were, we're using this also as a small business incubator program, so allowing people to test out the market. They may have been producing goods at home and they need an opportunity to access a customer base, the downtown customer base, which they're not used to accessing normally. And this gives them a chance to sort of test their products. We've done some wraparound services, offering them some classes on Zoom to help them learn about merchandising, to help them learn how to market themselves for free on social media. We also have, for the first hundred visitors who come to the market, there's a tote bag. So that'll be there. We'll have some extra additional inflatable seating, which is really fun for families and kids that are going out there. Yeah, we tried to inflate it today, we had a little struggle with that, but we're working on it. Should be ready by next weekend. I'm sure it's gonna go great, it's gonna go great. And so just to really create, the vending will be happening outwards on the park and will retain the inside of the park for really family picnic. There'll be some vendors in the park in the land. There will be some, yes, absolutely. But a bunch in, we're closing down St. Paul Street again. We're closing down St. Paul, we're just trying to keep the hardscapes and then also keep flow of pedestrian traffic and all of that clear. But definitely how the park has been set up with vending on Maine and vending on St. Paul and then some in the park. Great, yeah. You know, totally pictured getting, so I get to have my relaxed Saturday morning. Yes. Go down, hit the farmer's market, pick up my veggies that I'm looking for. Of course, I'll own a bicycle because it's much more fun and it's easier. And then come up and, for me, and then come up and have lunch. And then come up and have some lunch at City Hall Park. So there'll be a variety of prepared foods. We had a committee who reviewed all the applications and we had a scoring system. And really the goal was to give people, as I said, access to a customer base that they didn't normally have and to test out their business idea and see where it would go from there. And you can keep going north and Saturday is really gonna be like market day and in the city this summer. Then come around the corner here. The bizarre happening right outside of this club. Yeah. It sounds like it's gonna be an expensive Saturday morning. In a good way though, in a good way. That's really good, like used items. That's right, there's all kinds. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Are any of the vendors that were a part of the winter market coming back? There are some that are coming back. Yeah, they had great success. We had vendors in the winter market who sold out a product. And we are looking to expand the winter market again this year slowly. The winter market expands more slowly because we need covered structures because of weather. But, and that way this is a little easier to handle because of the hopefully the good weather and it's easier for people to bring their wares in and out. And they're just gonna, and getting into the fountain is explicitly part of the, part of the plan. Part of the plan. Getting into the fountain. Not a requirement though. No, no. But we're gonna have some of that splash dance theme that BCA has had in the park previously, the live music and basically the picnic blankets that you can just lay out around the fountain and let the kids get in. And there's, you know, just I think the reminder too is that there's bathroom on site. Yes. We've got the Portland Loop. Great reminder. But then also, I think sometimes people forget that City Hall is open for bathrooms. You just have to go from the church street side to get in. Yep, we're keeping that open on Saturdays as well. So that's a really good point. There's two bathroom options right there. I gotta say, I think the bathrooms, we had lots of complaints about that bathrooms for years. I feel like the bathrooms are being run very well right now. I definitely think. Well, we have, Alex is amazing. I mean, we have, Alex, we get so many, I had somebody came in today making great comments about Alex who takes care of City Hall Park five days a week and he just does a fantastic job. So, and definitely those, you know, that Portland Loop has been well used. It's stood the test of time so far. Looking to do another one, right? We're looking to do another one. No promises yet. But yeah, we have to find an appropriate location but it's been a real success story and it's really just had, you know, everyone needs a public restroom. So definitely. Where is the, you know, there are other locations we're considering or it's premature? I think it's premature right now. Well, we are gonna be testing some of those wasted ones too, starting in August. The ones that do, we are. It's like, have you heard about these ones? No. It is an incubator. It's an incubator. You'll like this one. So it's an incubator program at Hula which has all those cool incubator programs. And so it is one, it's like a fancy port-a-let. And so it's not combined to sewer and water but it separates the urine from solids. And so therefore then they can use the urine I guess as like a fertilizer, that's. And so we're gonna test some. We're gonna be a pilot site for them starting in August. I think we'll probably have one down by frame. So it's kind of a cool little incubator program. Sparks does use a bunch of port-a-lets. Because we use a bunch of port-a-lets in space. So it's one of those ones where that's a space we have a port-a-let and so they look a lot nicer. And it's great to help just a local business try out a model in a sustainable way. And they use fewer chemicals or greener chemicals so the waste can be used to go back into the land. And they've used this model already and they wanted to use Burlington as sort of one of their first test locations. They had been located in Southern Vermont but they hooked up with Hula and they've moved up here. So Parks is testing them out and we're hoping that it's, they have this great model where they're almost un-tippable. They have sort of a modern look to them. You can even wrap them in your logo if you so chose. And they come and service them and then they have an agreement with landowners for the use of the waste. Say more about this listen up series. Like I feel like that, is this a new thing or do we do a little bit of this last year? We did, so I'll give, you know, Tim I had to Burlington City Arts and Zach Williamson. This was one of his, and it is exactly as it said on the screen. It's Ted Talk inspired. Yeah. What do we know about that topic? Well, so I know we've had artists in the past that have spoken about their journey and how they got to where they were. We've also had retired individuals who have come and spoken about their work and the impact they've had on the community and where maybe they see their work going forward after them. And it's a very discussion-based interview sort of model. Does he use the little stage by City Hall or where we're in? It's right in front of BCA generally as we set up. But it's all, they have microphones, so it's all audio. So you can sort of sit in the park and listen to the discussion as if you were listening on NPR, essentially. And we've definitely had just some really good responses to that, yeah. Great. And so the 140 event statistics to be clear, that's all City Hall park events or does that include some of the other? That I think is all City Hall park events. And that- I was thinking that was everything. So some of those are, you know, obviously there aren't that many days in the summer, but if we have two hours of a DJ out there encouraging children to play in the fountain, which we call Splash Dance, that's one of our events. We're also having yoga in the park sometimes. So it's that each of those events adds up. Some events are larger than others, obviously, but combined- People are coming up. We should plug Jazz Fest coming right up. Yeah, the opening is, the opening performance at the Flynn is June 3rd. And it will spill out into City Hall park. We will have stages on Church Street. I believe there's a performance at the Waterfront Park. It's down at Waterfront Park. A big one. Basically everything that's outdoors is free. And we're really happy to welcome them back. So. The great majority of the events are free. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hasn't always been the case with Jazz Fest. It hasn't always been the case. I believe there are some ticketed events in the Flynn, but the outdoor events are free. And this year on the mall block of the Church Street Marketplace, we're going to be having a series of high school bands associated, like Jazz Bands associated with the Jazz Fest. So that'll be sort of fun. And I heard the Waterfront one, I don't remember the name, but I was told it's like a big deal. I've heard it's a big deal that this person is going to be down at the Waterfront and that it's going to be free. So if you're into Jazz, know that someone who's a big deal is going to the Waterfront. But I'm sure it's on their website. Get more specific information on their website. Exactly. So what else do we have here for you? Yeah, I'll give a quick marketplace update, which is the next slide. I don't know if I control the slides here. If we could forward, yep. There we go, perfect, thank you. So we've sort of revamped a little bit our cart vendor program on the marketplace. Again, with the idea that we're using it to incubate, sort of welcoming some new, we have some new immigrant and BIPOC focused carts that were coming to the street. And we definitely have some old hands, which the cart you saw on that picture, which is Skinny Pancake, who got their start in the church sheet marketplace. And we're trying to set people up with mentors to help them get used to being on the street. Another layer that we've added to our cart vendor program is a minimum attendance requirement, so we can market them on our social media. That's like a change, Kara. I mean, I think the pandemic had a big part. I hear you like the falafel. So you'll know which days it's out there. Well, no one moves it, it's gonna be back. You'll know when he's gonna be there. So we are gonna have people's schedules and we'll be able to let people know, which I think will be good for the businesses. And of course, there's weather issues and things like that, but good for the businesses and good for activation for the street. So you know who's there and who's not. And I don't know if you saw, but WCAX just did a piece. We had, we have a new flower cart on the street. Yeah, the bicycle cart. It's not one they were filming that, so I happened to walk by it. She's gray and she has sold out of her product every day she's been there. Is that right? Yeah, I feel like it's a sign of the times people want a little happy. And so that's been good. We are gonna do some pop-up food vendors in City Hall Park again on that College Street Terrace. And that's going to be grab and go. We had some great Somali food vendors last summer that were a hit and we had some bakeries selling desserts and we pair them together. You can, it's all into go containers. You can eat in the park or you can take it home. How often will that be happening? So we're working. This is one of my pet pet projects here. Yeah, I know. This is like a department head meeting on TV here, like how often car are you at that terrace? Filled. I'm gonna get that PowerPoint to you. Should we tell Stacey to opt the food budget or the dining budget? We are looking to fill as many Thursday, Friday, Saturdays as we can. Thursday, Friday, sorry, it's great. But we'll hopefully be publishing some of that and some of that. We're joking about this, but this is an important part of the plan for City Hall Park since we decided to redo it is that we really wanna make it a place that is actively used throughout the week, not just on farmer's market Saturdays. And you look around what makes a successful park often having food in the park is something that brings people there and keeps it active and vibrant. And that terrace was designed. The terrace, definitely. Someone designed with that in mind. So much. We have some like utility water issues, but we're working through those. We just increase, for anyone who wants to been there, we just increase the amps of electricity so you can have more of an ability to cook there a little bit if you need to. From the practical side, can I say it's been a success in that we have a lot more garbage coming out of that park. There you go. So that tells you. Which is like people are coming to the park, they're getting their pizza boxes, they're coming over. Let's add that to BTV stat. BTV stat, how much garbage comes out of City Hall Park? And is it sorted? And is it sorted, that's right. How did they do in the recycling? I know, exactly. So we'll be having those. And for those of you who'll do a little plug who don't follow Love Burlington, if you use Instagram, it's atloveburlington. If you use the internet, it's loveburlington.org. We have event calendars on there. We also have a very descriptive calendar of BTV market where you can see which vendors are coming, which week, which Saturday, and click on them and learn more about what they're selling and where they'll be located so you can find them easily when you're there. And you'll also be able to see which bands are playing if that interests you. Love Burlington still has the whole searchable website. Love Burlington, thanks for the plug. Yes, it's a fully searchable database of small businesses throughout the city, not just downtown. So Old North End, South End. And you can sort by what you're looking for. You can sort by ownership structure. So BIPOC, women owned. You can sort by food, clothing. You can sort whether you want an experience. So whether you're looking for a gallery or something like that. And so that is constantly being updated and that's always up to date. And now we've added a whole section on the market so you can search for vendors. And so anyway, just a little plug for Love Burlington. If you're looking for, I feel like sometimes it's hard to know the information and there's so much happening in the city each weekend. So, and yeah. It's a great tool and great additional, something that really was built during the pandemic. It really was. It came out of a conversation that my team and I had had with the business community, one of those large zooms, when we were in the throes of the pandemic and people were obviously anxious and really stressed and their livelihoods depended on things. And people said, the artists have BCA and the businesses on the marketplace have the tertiary marketplace, but we need another voice for us. And out of that conversation, Love Burlington was born. And we've just had a great response from the small businesses being really pleased to have just a platform that's amplifying them. We're headed toward 10,000 followers now on Instagram. And people are checking it constantly to see what's new and where you can go and things you, I swear you don't know the city has. You can find them on Love Burlington. I'm always surprised. I don't create the content myself personally. So sometimes what I'm looking at it, I think, I didn't know that was there. But so yeah, that's how that came about. Also, as we all know, the mall is closed and in an attempt to sort of program some of that space, as I said, we have the high school bands coming in for the jazz fest. And we're also gonna have some pop-up live music with games and vendors there on Wednesdays during the summer. I wanna make sure Cindy, did you wanna talk about some rec programs? Yeah, well, yep, and I just wanted to highlight the waterfront's gonna be a great, so a lot of information on City Hall Park, but the waterfront also is gonna be really activated this summer, much more than the past two years, obviously, not quite up to 2019, but we're getting there. And I think one of the highlights coming back, I think, is the three-day Brewer Fest. That's gonna be, I would wonder if the tickets are already sold out, because everybody's looking forward to that one. Are they doing two? They're doing three. They got three, yep, three times of that. So, and then of course in the fall with the Antique Boat Society's international event happening down there. But I did wanna do a quick, that is a, oh, that's like a worldwide show. Like, this is the Antique Boat, and it's kind of, in many ways, there's just a little sadness with it. It was like, it was a Bill Truex. That was his baby that he's been working on for years and here he can't see it come to fruition, but I'm sure the community will take care of Bill's vision and it'll go off great and it'll be a really wonderful event for a community in September. Anyone watching that doesn't know, or talking about Bill Truex, long time, long time, Berlin, Tony, and really kind of an institution in town started the Truex Collins, the architecture firm on Battery Street, really one of the visionaries who created the Church Street Marketplace passed away a couple months ago now. And he had been, this had been a major project. I can't, lost track of how many times Bill would come to talk to me about this. Boat show had to be delayed because of the pandemic in the bank, right? So, it is, but I think there's gonna be a, I believe there's some memorial events coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just the one thing I wanna talk about, we have all these great events going on. I just want to also remind the community that we have an amazing recreation nutrition program. So there's meals, you know, as people are thinking about how to make summer work. You know, we've got the meals program going all summer. And so hopefully that allows people to save up a little bit of money because they've got some lunch provided so they can spend a little extra dollars down at, the waterfront or down at City Hall Park or on Church Street Marketplace. So it's gonna be a great summer, great summer. And again, what a day to do it on when it's like 70 degrees out there, sunny. We're gonna have a blast. We're gonna have a lot of fun in the summer. That's exactly right. So anyone watching out there trying to set up, thinking about their summer plans, that Burlington is open. There's gonna be more happening than ever. We didn't even get to the major events slide. Maybe we'll throw that up as we're wrapping up here. We, I guess we mentioned a couple of them. We're getting the first, the kickoff really always feels like happens this coming weekend with. Exactly, the marathon. It is this weekend. It is this weekend, yeah. Memorial Day weekend, the Vermont City Marathon is back and it's traditional time for the first time in three years on. Traditional time, full marathon. Full marathon. I'm gonna be looking forward to kicking it off early Sunday morning. And from there we go, we have the Jazz Fest game started next week, which we talked a little bit about, but we also Festival of Fools is coming back. Kara has this crazy new event running with the Bulls. It's not mine, it's a charity event, but yes. We're not actually bringing Pamplona Bulls here, but it sounds like it should be fun. The boat show, which we did talk a little bit about. Juneteenth coming up in less than a month has grown from a single day event and now it is really a weekend of events that are taking place around the city and more. So we're down to just our last few seconds here. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll be back again in June for another edition of the Mayor's Show. Any last thoughts you wanna leave with for people thinking about the summer? I think just get outside and have a great summer. Look forward to seeing everybody out and about. Those sound like words to summer by, so thank you all for joining us. We'll see you soon. Thanks.