On Saturday, the 21st annual Downtown Street Festival, Sidewalk
Sale and Car Show will take over Hollister.
Hollister – It’s time, once again, for shiny vintage cars and juicy watermelon slices.
On Saturday, the 21st annual Downtown Street Festival, Sidewalk Sale and Car Show will take over Hollister. It aims to lure community members downtown, but not just for the festival itself. Organizers say the festival shows what downtown has to offer so people will continue coming back to shop downtown.
Event Chairwoman Jeana Arnold said she expects the “family fun day” to draw around 5,000 people to downtown.
“We’re excited to get people downtown and to get some money pumping through are community,” Arnold said.
It closes down San Benito Street for live music and entertainment throughout the day. There also will be free watermelon and local vendor and food booths.
Many of the local businesses will have specials to allow people who don’t normally shop downtown to try their food and come back in the future, Arnold said.
Arnold said last year in particular, local restaurants reported spikes in their sales during the festival.
“They all reported really good sales, so it’s nice that we could do that,” she said.
Another big draw is the car show, in which locals and out-of-towners compete, Arnold said. City Clerk Geri Johnson, a committee member, said the car show is one of the biggest attractions for many people. Once they are downtown, she said, hopefully they will do some shopping and see what is available.
“There’s a lot of gorgeous cars to see,” Johnson said. “We’d like to see folks come downtown and spend a few hours or spend the day. We want to keep our downtown vibrant and help make people aware of what we have downtown in our city.”
The event is run exclusively by volunteers. Many of them are involved in the Hollister Downtown Association, but others just come because they enjoy the event. Volunteer coordinator Liz Smith said she had around 40 volunteers signed up this year.
“We’re very fortunate that we have a lot of people that like to volunteer year after year,” she said. “I think it’s just a fun event that people enjoy coming to and like to feel a part of.”
Alice Joy covers education and health for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
