EAST AURORA (WBEN) - The Greater East Aurora Chamber of Commerce held a press conference on Main Street in the village Tuesday morning to announce the kickoff of its new Virtual Street Festival & Sidewalk Sale and discuss some of the initiatives being taken to restore businesses amid the pandemic.
"Retail businesses and restaurants have been the lifeblood of our economy and our village here in East Aurora, but over the last five months, they've really been forced into a battle to survive due to the devastating impact of this pandemic on our local economy," said Mayor Pete Mercurio. "This week, the East Aurora Chamber is launching this innovative and exciting Virtual Street Festival & Sidewalk Sale, a safe and thoughful way to continue the time-honored tradition of our annual Summer Sidewalk Sale here in the village."
Victoria Sturman serves as the associate director of the Chamber, and she discussed some of the details of the virtual event, which is now in its 51st year.
"We watched as the local business districts came to a complete standstill and turned into ghost towns," she said. "We knew that even though we had to cancel our live event, wee needed to do something; we needed to be there as a Chamber for our businesses - members or non-members at this point - we just needed to be there to help support them, so we turned our focus online."
Now, for the first time ever, the annual event is moving to an online format.
They are utilizing the Chamber's Facebook, where there is a Sidewalk Sale event linked to the page, as well as on the Chamber's website.
The event will take place this Thursday, July 23 through Saturday, July 25, and there are dozens of local businesses taking part.