Business Leaders Aim to Restore Downtown Connections
If it’s happening in Eugene, it’s happening downtown, from booming businesses and salsa dancing to spa treatments, visual and performing arts, chic dining options and festivals galore. The area already is a hotbed of cultural activity with the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, the McDonald Theatre, WOW Hall and the John G. Shedd Center for the Performing Arts. Yet residents, visitors and college students are finding more new reasons to stay and play.
“Like a lot of midsize cities, our downtown is in transition,” says Dave Hauser, president of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. “There was a time where it was the retail, employment, governmental and cultural center of our universe, and we’re trying to reconnect the dots to this vibrant center of our community.”
One part of that effort is promoting the redevelopment of vacant sites for mixed-use projects including offices, retail and housing.
Another part is an exciting calendar of events including the Saturday Market, a “weekly event that emphasizes goods and services that are primarily from cottage industries around the area,” Hauser says. “We’re passionate about supporting our local micro enterprises.”
Other events include the monthly First Friday ArtWalk, during which participants tour galleries including Opus6ix, La Folette, DIVA and New Zone, in addition to many other businesses that stay open after hours during the celebration. Then there’s the Bite of Downtown every August, which showcases all the eating and drinking establishments in the district, and the Eugene Celebration, an annual festival that includes a parade, food booths and music performances on three stages.
“We are working to make downtown a safe and active place for everyone in Eugene,” Hauser says. “There’s no limit to what it can evolve into, and it’s such an important part of the fabric of our community.”
