07/08/2010

Gmail - Fw: Grand Opening - Change of

Jenn Farr <jennfarr.superstar@gmail.com>

Fw: Grand Opening - Change of Date

1 message Bank Street B.I.A. <bankstreetbia@rogers.com> To: jennfarr.superstar@gmail.com Part 3 ----- Original Message ----From: Glenn Crawford To: 'Bank Street B.I.A.' Cc: 'Holmes, Diane' ; 'Keays, Jeffrey' Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 5:42 PM Subject: RE: Grand Opening - Change of Date Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 11:39 AM

Gerry,

That's a pretty major decision that I would have hoped the whole planning committee could have had an opportunity to weigh in on. From my perspective, I see a number of issues for the date change.

1. That takes the event outside of the Capital Pride Festival, and may have Pride back out of the event altogether. They have already booked equipment and have started marketing the event, handing out 5,000 cards with the event date and times during the huge Toronto Pride Festival last weekend. If the date change holds, those cards become inaccurate and obsolete, and they've wasted time and money handing them out. 2. We, too, in our planning, have already approached a number of individuals and companies to assess their availability for the 22nd date, and now we'll have to re-contact them to see if they would also be available for the previous week. Logistically, this becomes very difficult and labour intensive, though it's less of a challenge for us as it is for Pride. 3. Losing another week pushes the pressure on all of us to have everything prepared and ready in time. There are still a lot of loose ends and I'm getting worried this isn't enough time to finalize everything. 4. This date change would especially impact the success of marketing the event, as we really need to begin promoting the event on a large scale as soon as possible. Since this is a one-time event that has no major precedent, unlike something like WestFest that has grown every year in size and reputation, we will need to work extra hard on making sure people know the event is happening, otherwise we'll have lots of great activities, but no people to enjoy them. Pushing the date forward means losing another week of critical marketing opportunities. 5. This event is not a typical Sidewalk Sale, though I guess the plans were to have an ongoing sidewalk sale during the week leading up to the party, is that correct? If that's the case, why not move the sidewalk sale up a week as you suggest, but leave the re-opening party on the 22nd? That gives you two big weekends to get people back on the street; first with the sale, and secondly with the party. The day of the 15th would probably do better for you as exclusively a sidewalk sale anyway, as I assume most people won't want to shop during a big party when food and liquor will be served; the party will hurt sales during the sidewalk sale. I know this from past experience during Pride Festivals... most people don't want to carry around (and possibly lose) bags of shopping while they are also dancing and drinking.

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Gmail - Fw: Grand Opening - Change of

Anyway, I hope you and Kimberley take this as food for thought and reconsider the date change, or at least wait until the entire planning committee can have a chance to have a say in the matter. Is that still possible?

Thank you and have a great afternoon, Glenn Crawford Jack Of All Trades Design 3-35 James Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 0T4 613.565.8224 glenn@jackofalltradesdesign.com www.jackofalltradesdesign.com From: Bank Street B.I.A. [mailto:bankstreetbia@rogers.com] Sent: July 7, 2010 5:05 PM To: Diane Holmes Cc: Kevin Houlahan; Steven Tanner; Brian Roberts; email@bobthompsonjewellers.com; Rob St. Amour; Mel Hartman; Jacie Levinson; Bill Joe; Councillor Holmes; Michel Parent; Frank ; Grant Cobb; Doug (Pride Committee); Khoa Hoang; Keays, Jeffrey; Barbara Feldman; Glenn Crawford; Aleksandra Milosevic; Meg McCallum; Charles Akben-Marchand; Alice Nakanishi Subject: Grand Opening - Change of Date

Dear Diane,

Kim and I have been reviewing past august sidewalk sales; we have determined that our sales are marginalized when...they fall within the same time period as the Exhibition, and when they fall too far into August, as to capture a significant portion of the back-to-school portion. When we checked the tentative date of the opening; it failed on both accounts as it falls within the week that the Ex commences and in addition falls too far into August to capture a significant portion of the back-to-school portion.

Therefore, we have decided to move up the event date to August 15th, 2010. While we appreciate that more politicians will not be available, we are more concerned that our membership will not receive the benefits of the back to school sales. We will copy all members in this email so that are all aware of the changes.

Sincerest regards,

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Gmail - Fw: Grand Opening - Change of

Gerry LePage Executive Director Bank Street BIA Tel: 613-232-6255 Fax: 613-232-3372 www.bankstreet.ca

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