Small retail shops and restaurants have taken some of the hardest hits. The Westfield Chamber of Commerce and Westfield Welcome are partnering to promote Winter in Westfield from January through March.
“We want to encourage people to shop and dine locally over these winter months,” Westfield Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steve Latour said during the Nov. 19 chamber luncheon at the Bridgewater Club. “Having met in person with a number of restaurants, one of the fears that they have with the cold season coming upon us (is) they are going to see restaurant participation dramatically drop. States around us now are not allowing dine-in services. Who knows if it will happen here or no? Hopefully not, but the potential looms.
“So, there is stress that our restaurants, bars and even shops in Westfield have about not knowing what is going to happen over the winter months.”
Latour said a group got together to see how they could support businesses and created Winter in Westfield. The group put together a Winter in Westfield logo and are directing people to the Westfield Welcome website to get information on where to dine and different activities that the group is planning to conduct.
Maps on different districts show parking options on westfieldwelcome.com. The downtown area will be featured this month.
“We want to show people where they can park with construction going on with Grand Junction, what stores are open and where they can eat or drink,” Latour said. “We’re talking with restaurants to encourage them to do an extended happy hour at some point during the winter months that we can help promote. We’re looking at businesses and shops to do open houses we can help promote.”
Michelle Krcmery, business relations director with the City of Westfield, is working with Latour on the Winter in Westfield initiative. Krcmery asked chamber members to share information at their businesses and on social media. Latour said the chamber will share social media tools this month on westfield-chamber.org.
In addition, Latour said Hamilton County Tourism will conduct The Great Dine Out winter restaurant campaign from Jan. 4 to Jan. 31.
