THING: Did it hurt or help downtown business?

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For downtown businesses, August brings some of their biggest profit-making weekends, as tourists bounce from shop to shop, buying trinkets, clothes, candy and more.

But with the attention drawn out to Fort Worden on Aug. 24 and 25, downtown businesses closely watched their sales to see if the inaugural THING hurt their thing.

Leader reporters hit the streets to ask downtown restaurant-owners and shop-owners. Here’s what we found:

“The numbers over that weekend were lower across the board,” said Kris Nelson, who owns four restaurants downtown: Sirens Pub, The InBetween, The Old Whiskey Mill and Alchemy Bistro. Friday night was considerably busier than normal, she said, as visitors flocked into town. But Saturday and Sunday nights were dead, as crowds stayed at Fort Worden to hear the headliners, such as De La Soul and the Violent Femmes.

August weekends are normally the busiest of the summer, Nelson and several other downtown merchants said, accounting for up to 20% of each year’s revenue, in some cases.

“This doesn’t mean I’m against the festival in any shape or form,” Nelson said. “As it goes, we will learn and grow together.”

Julie McCulloch, owner of Elevated Ice Cream & Candy Shop, near the corner of Water and Quincy Streets estimated her sales during THING were “about what you’d expect for a busy summer weekend,” and she expressed support for the event.

Mary Hewitt wears two hats, as the owner of both the Pacific Traditions art gallery and the Waterstreet Hotel, and THING was a mixed blessing for her.

“My (gallery) business went down, but the hotel was full,” Hewitt said. “Then again, my (gallery) business usually goes down during festivals.”

Despite this setback, Hewitt echoed McCulloch’s sunny response.

“I hope they do it again,” Hewitt said. “We saw everyone from young parents to grandparents with their grandchildren out in force. I love that they had shuttle service for it. I only wish they had the same for the jazz and blues festivals.”

Meghan Kershner, a mechanic at the Broken Spoke, noted a few extra bike rentals over the weekend, but otherwise saw her shop’s business largely unchanged.

“It certainly didn’t have a negative impact,” Kershner said. “Speaking just for myself, I thought the THING was awesome. It wasn’t overly loud or raucous, and downtown wasn’t overrun with traffic, so if they want to come back, I say, why not?”

Jim Frederick, co-owner of the Tunnel Tavern, loved the event and the amount of business it brought. “We were packed to the gills. I was shocked at how smooth the THING ran. I hope they do it again.”

Shelly Leavens, executive director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, said THING likely killed the traffic to the Society’s satellite museum at Fort Worden and was glad THING organizers included her organization in “Soundcheck,” the pre-THING festivities.

Kate Dwyer, operator of PTeRider historic tours, called it taking one for the team.

“I would say there was a downtick, but I wouldn’t blame it on THING. Overall it was a good thing and it is worth a few sacrifices.”

Susan Solley, a manager at Earthenworks on Water at Jefferson Street said it did not work for her: “Saturday nor Sunday were not good retail days for us at all. It just wasn’t a shopping crowd.”

At the other end of Water Street, Don’s Pharmacy Manager Carol Seldal said THING did not make the cash registers ring in her store, either. “It was dead, dead, dead.” She said whatever the reason, it was a slow weekend during what is typically, in her nine years’ experience, Don’s busy season.

Just two blocks away and in a restaurant, it was the opposite.

“It was not quite Wooden Boat, but close,” said Lynn Hamlin-LeMaster, co-owner of Lehani’s Deli and Coffee. “We were screaming busy.”

C.J. MacDuffee, a partner in Déjà Vu Antiques and collectibles on Water near Taylor Street said the same. “We had really busy days on Friday and Saturday,” with crowds that she said skewed a little younger than usual. She said the weekend’s take showed no drop-off from a year ago. “Oh yeah, really good,” she said, raising her eyebrows high.

At the south end of the same block on the same side of the street, Waterfront Pizza Manager Mike Pruitt said he took the weekend off, but saw the impact at the bank. “The numbers look good,” said the 26-year-veteran, while saucing two pizzas for the oven. “I think it was a good thing.”

At World’s End, owner Joyce Janetski said she hopes THING will be added to Port Townsend’s festival calendar for next year. “They (sales) were good, but I don’t think they were particularly high,” she said. “Any festival is good.”

Just south of World’s End, Quimper Sound Records had, as one might expect, a very strong weekend. Owner James Schultz said next year should improve. “We as downtown could do this better next year, now that we know THING is very self-contained,” he said. Among his ideas: better signage at the event and along the route to the Fort Worden, reminding participants what downtown offers.