Roll 'n' Stroll
[This topic has reached its use by date and has been closed.] Did you participate in Smith Street's car free environment week? Did you attend a speaker box session, participate in the biker breakfast or join in any of the street festivities organised by traders on the final day? How did you find out about it and do you think it was successful?
Posted by Editor
Comments

Great idea but not really planned or promoted well enough. Seemed in a way rather pointless when on Sunday most of the stores are closed. I would suggest when planning for something like this in the future at least ensure the stores are actually open to provide vistitors something to do when they visit the street.

I couldn't make it on Sunday, but bands, a race or other fun activities would have been a drawcard. I like it though - the idea has such great potential and we need more community events esp. with the demise of the Brunswick St festival and Fringe parade.

Sunday was a good idea, but not on the same day as the High Street festival.
The speakerbox was a good idea, but speakers were only approved, by Yarra City Council, only days before the first one stepped out leaving only a day or so to promote it. Surely a letterbox drop a few blocks on either side of Smith st would've reached many more people than the flyers that blended in so well with the others that it was difficult to discerne between the events.
The Bikers Breakfast, another good idea, but there are people on either side of Smith, residents... people who live here, people who make up the population that support the retail sector who may have participated had they known about it. It seemed more like a festival for retailers than for anyone else in the "community".
A letter box drop in Atherton Gardens and the Collingwood Estate may have done wonders, perhaps even multi-lingual to reach out to the broader population that support, by and large, Smith st...