{"id":24519,"date":"2019-08-21T18:36:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T22:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24519"},"modified":"2019-08-29T16:56:38","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T20:56:38","slug":"business-improvement-area-saddles-up-for-downtown-street-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/business-improvement-area-saddles-up-for-downtown-street-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Improvement Area saddles up for downtown street party"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After more than a decade\u2019s absence, Aurora\u2019s recently\nre-established Business Improvement Area has hit the ground running in their\nefforts to make the Town\u2019s historic core a destination once again \u2013 and now,\nyou will be able to see the first fruits of their labour next month with a\nparty right on Yonge Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, September 7, from 4 \u2013 11 p.m., Yonge Street will be\nclosed from Wellington Street to Mosley Street, for what\u2019s billed as a\n\u201cfamily-friendly Hoedown pre-party.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Held one week before York Region\u2019s biggest annual party under the\nbig top of the Magna Corral, this Yonge Street Party will have a western theme,\nfeature live entertainment from previous winners of the Hoedown Showdown\ncountry talent competition, and special prizes and events hosted by downtown\narea businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The September 7 event will be the first of what they plan to be\nquarterly seasonal street events to bring residents back into the Yonge and Wellington\ncorridor to shop, eat, and have fun,\u201d says Joanne Russo, Board Member of the\nDowntown Aurora BIA. \u201cWe just received funding from the Town of Aurora in the\namount of $40,000 and our first big official event is taking place on September\n7 where Yonge Street will be closed for pedestrian traffic from Wellington down\nto Mosley for our family-friendly pre-Hoedown street party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have had great support from local businesses for this event\nand they all seem to be very excited about it! Restaurants will be extending\ntheir patios out to the street area. Yonge and Wellington businesses are\nwelcome to have booths on the street advertising their businesses and other\nbusinesses in the Downtown Core itself are welcome to participate as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe BIA has worked closely with the Hoedown organizers to create\nthis family-friendly street event that complements the long-standing Magna\nHoedown event, which is wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the importance of Hoedown to this event, Sandra\nFerri, Executive Director of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, says, \u201cThe\nMagna Hoedown is an iconic event that is an integral part of the community and\nthe BIA is thrilled to be able to work closely with the Hoedown organizers to\nmake the first BIA event a huge success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re honoured to be part of this pre-event for\nthe Hoedown. We know how much Magna has done for this community and we know how\nmuch Hoedown helps our local charities. This was the appropriate thing to do\nfor our kick-off \u2013 to really tie it in to something that is so important to\nAurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, previous winners of the Magna Hoedown\nShowdown, the Ontario-wide talent search for Canada\u2019s next country star, will\nbe on hand to share their music and success stories and Hoedown\u2019s 20 community\npartners \u2013 charities and non-profits that will share in the proceeds from this\nyear\u2019s event \u2013 will also be present at the street party to sell event and\nraffle tickets while increasing the community\u2019s awareness of who they are and\nwhat they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for businesses located within the Downtown BIA?\nWell, to find out more about them and seek out some great deals, you\u2019ll have a\nchance to take part on a locally inspired scavenger hunt, which will take you\nthrough their doors for a chance to win a number of exciting prizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to finally say, \u2018We\u2019re here and\nwe\u2019re moving forward with supporting local businesses,\u2019\u201d says Ms. Russo. \u201cWe\u2019re\nexcited about the BIA and it is so nice to see and feel the support when we do\nour walks in the community and speak to local business owners. Businesses do want\nto see change and we\u2019re hoping they can see the change happening. They are\nhappy to finally see this here; they\u2019ve wanted it, but they didn\u2019t know if they\ncould believe it. Now, the BIA is formed and having this first event is making\nthem once again have faith that there will be some revitalization downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a first-time event, the BIA Board members say\nattendance will not be the only measure of this street party\u2019s success; it will\nalso be measured in the participation of local businesses. Judging from the\nfeedback they have received so far, they say it is already proving to be a\nsuccess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a beautiful downtown,\u201d says Ms. Russo.\n\u201cThere is a lot that is out there in our Downtown core, including great food.\nCome and just enjoy the moment and support local businesses, recognize what\u2019s\naround you and support them in any way you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Ms. Ferri: \u201cCome hungry, come prepared to\nsavour some of the wonderful food we have on Yonge Street, and enjoy the\nentertainment and children\u2019s events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora BIA\u2019s Family-Friendly Hoedown Pre-Party\nwill be held on Yonge Street from Wellington to Mosley Streets on Saturday,\nSeptember 7, from 4 \u2013 11 p.m. It will feature live country music, fun kids\ngames, stores and restaurants open to serve you, a locally inspired scavenger\nhunt with prizes and giveaways. For more information, visit DowntownAurora.ca.\nSuitable for all ages and families. Rain or shine.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An early kickoff to the 2019 Magna Hoedown will shut down Yonge Street from Wellington to Mosley with a street party spearheaded by Aurora’s new Downtown BIA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6nt","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 07:30:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}