FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With 25 days left until Christmas, the Lights of the Ozarks in Downtown Fayetteville is as popular as ever, and organizers have made a change that they say should benefit visitors and local businesses in the square.
Kelly Rich with the Downtown Fayetteville Coalition says Car-Free Fridays is a new initiative to block cars from parking in the square during the lights to encourage more foot traffic.
"The event started 30 years ago. This is not the same event from 30 years ago," Rich said. "It has grown, and it gets congested on the sidewalks people are coming in. It's been fantastic to have everyone support this event, but we wanted to be able to, you know, give some breathing room to our attendees."
And local boutiques, including Lili Carmen at Stache, say it’s much safer this way.
Carmen says in past years "here were people driving around the square, and it's dark, they're not looking, especially little kids. They're rowdy, rambunctious, [and] want to, you know, see everything. So it's very nice that they're closing it off and allowing more people to feel comfortable in this space of families, children, and everything."
Visitors had a much easier time enjoying the lights and activities like the Mitzvah Holiday Art Market in the Fayetteville Town Center.
"I think a big reason why we wanted to bring this market here is because it is a part of the Lights of the Ozarks, so you can come in and out of the lights and, you know, get warm and have a drink and walk around. And I think it'll be really great just considering that a lot more people will be here because of the Car-Free Fridays," owner of the Cozy Librarian art company, Emily Walker, said.
Visitors get the opportunity to shop at local stores and restaurants that would usually be closed.
"A lot more people, especially once the lights turn on, want to come in and shop than when we were open just during the day," Carmen said. "Like, this is probably busier than we had all day. And once it hits around 6 [p.m.] when we would usually close, that's when a lot of people are coming in there exploring everything we have."
This was the Downtown Fayetteville Coalition's goal when introducing Car-Free Fridays.
"My goal is to have people out and supporting our local businesses because we want to be a positive economic impact to our business economy," Rich said.
The Fayetteville Square will be closed to traffic every Friday in December.
Experience Fayetteville said this is all a trial run to see if a pedestrian-focused area has a positive impact on the Fayetteville Square's businesses and visitors.
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