MargateNews.net - http://margatenews.net/margatenews/ Original Article URL: http://margatenews.net/margatenews/news/articles/article317.asp Margate Street Festival 2010: Bigger, Better • Word of mouth rocks the house By Mitchell Pellecchia, Staff Writer Monday, March 1, 2010 Attendance at this year’s 2nd Annual Margate Street Festival downtown on February 21st exceeded 8,000, said Executive Director, Jaime Milner of the Margate Chamber of Commerce—a 60 percent increase over last year. Sponsorship grew by 20 percent, said Chamber President, John Francis and the entertainment, food offerings and support from local business leaders and residents was beyond reproach, just like last year, he said. _______________ Lots of planning, hard work and cooperation by city officials, local law enforcement and business leaders made this year's 2nd Annual Margate Street Festival along Margate Boulevard possible. Chamber of Commerce members (who are all volunteers in the street festival planning and implementation process) began planning this year’s festival shortly after last year’s ended. For almost an entire year, the Chamber’s Street Festival Committee convened on a monthly basis and, in between, Chamber volunteers and directors alike hit the streets and the phones in an effort to build participation among the local business community. What made this year’s event more popular than last year’s? “Word of mouth,” said Milner. Milner said the Chamber might have advertised a little bit more for this year’s street fest than they did last year, but not by much. She attributed the success of this year’s event to the hard work of Chamber volunteers, wonderful weather, the support by local business men and women and a strong following by dedicated festival goers in the tri-county area who were impressed by last year’s First Annual Margate Street Festival (temperatures were in the 90s last year; this year—in the 70s). Francis said larger sponsors like JM Lexus, the Army and others came through despite the down economy. “The response and support from the local business community was outstanding,” Francis said. Naturally, musical acts such as The Five Burroughs and Maxine Nightingale don’t hurt either, said the Chamber President. Martial arts demonstrations and local dance troupes put the icing on the cake for young performers and their families, and activities such as face and fingernail painting, bounce houses and reasonably priced comfort foods made it easy for families to enjoy Margate’s 2nd Annual Street Festival. Will there be a 3rd Annual Street Festival next year? “If this year is any indication…absolutely,” Francis said. __________________________________________ Get MargateNews.net on your desktop, laptop or mobile Internet with customizable RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds. Receive all the news, or just some of it, as soon as it’s published! Sign up now. Access the wireless version of this website by visiting http://www.margatenews.net/margatenews/wireless with your WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) Internet-enabled wireless device. Copyright © MargateNews.net 2009