To preview the progress being made on its downtown streetscape project and to bring relief from the financial hit the project has delivered to downtown merchants, the town of Jonesborough is launching a new nine-week downtown shopping promotion with extended store hours every Friday night and cash mob parties every Saturday morning through September.
Dubbed “We Dig Jonesborough,” the promotional series will kick off Aug. 3 in conjunction with the Jonesborough’s free Friday night Music on the Square. Downtown shops will be open through 8 p.m. and free admission to the new Chester Inn Museum that chronicles Jonesborough’s history will be available until 8:30. Music on the Square begins at 7 every Friday evening on the street in front of the courthouse.
The first We Dig Jonesborough cash mob, a high spirited hour of social shopping with weekly prize drawings for participants who spend $20 or more at the store the cash mob targets, will begin at 11 a.m. Aug. 4 at a shop to be selected in a drawing conducted earlier in the week.
Jonesborough Special Events Coordinator Melinda Copp announced the promotion at a media luncheon hosted by the town in the parlor of the Storytelling Center on Thursday. “We’ve had a lot of construction going on and we’re excited to announce a promotional series that will put light on the project,” Copp said.
“The sidewalks are more than double what we had and really look fantastic,” she said. Upgrades of the underground water and electrical lines beneath Main Street are complete in the downtown business district. The sidewalk work is expected to wrap up from Boone Street to the west side of the courthouse by the end of the month. New street lights have been installed. And new benches, planters and trash receptacles have been ordered.
Copp said We Dig Joneborough will provide a series of opportunities for people to come to Jonesborough and see the new streetscape taking shape. The series is also intended to bring more people downtown after work on Friday for dinner and Music on the Square and for cash mob shopping and other activities scheduled throughout the day on Saturdays.
“Cash mobs are a lot of fun. They’re becoming more popular. And they’re a great way to relieve financial stress,” Copp said.
The cash mobs will target a total of nine different stores throughout the series, with a different store selected for the mobs’ attention in drawings to be conducted at the beginning of each week.
To keep the mob downtown, the special shopping events have been scheduled to coincide with the farmer’s market conducted every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the courthouse, Saturday afternoon Teller in Residence performances that begin at 2 at Storytelling Center, and free outdoor Movies on Main that start at 8:30 every Saturday evening on Main Street.
Weekly drawings will be conducted for prizes from the featured stores to shoppers who spend $20 or more at their cash mob. And a grand prize drawing for cash mob shoppers will be conducted at the conclusion of series in late September.