By Mike Miner
The long story of the Sparks Street Mall has begun a new chapter with Sharon McKenna’s appointment as mall manager, and she says she couldn’t be happier to be part of the tradition.
“I’ve always loved Sparks Street,” she says. “My grandmother told me stories of coming down to Sparks Street back in the trolley times. Both my parents remember coming here, riding the trolleys and seeing all the stores. It was a really big event for them and it’s nice to be a part of that.”
McKenna has been on the job since June, but just returned from two months of maternity leave. And she is no stranger to the area.
McKenna worked in the mall’s office for seven years as an administrative assistant and before that worked for the Board of Trade, also located on Sparks Street.
Bill Cornet, the vice-chair of the Sparks Street Mall’s board of governors and the owner of Classico Uomo on Sparks Street, says he is happy with McKenna’s appointment.
He says McKenna was the perfect person fill the shoes of Peter Harris, the previous manager whose position had been vacant for two months.
“If anybody should be running the mall, it’s her,” he says. “She knows the mall inside and out.”
McKenna says in her role as mall manager, she is responsible for the mall from “sidewalk to sidewalk,” meaning the street as a whole, not individual businesses.
She has to look after maintenance and promotion and is expecting 2000 to be a busy year.
“It’s the 31st anniversary of the change to a pedestrian mall,” she says. “And also there will be a lot of special year 2000 events that are in the planning stages right now.”
Although she can’t say what the coming events will be, she promises something big.
“I think that everything we put on in the mall, all the events like the Busker’s Festival, is excellent,” she says. “We’ve got to try to continue that tradition and keep trying to top ourselves.”
The calendar of special events will be unveiled early in the new year.
As for issues like the National Capital Commission’s plan for the expansion of Metcalfe, and the potential of space above stores being used for housing, she says she will throw her support into anything good for the mall that will bring more customers.
Over the long-term, McKenna says her goal is to get as many people out to Sparks Street as possible.
“I’d like to see one million people out on the street,” she says, laughing. “I mean, there’s not a million people out anywhere, but I’d like to see it.”
She says she’s happy with her prospects of drawing visitors because of the nature of the street.
“The street is an advertising (for) itself because of the history,” she says.
“It’s a family-style community here and we all work together. It’s easier to promote ourselves as a collective as opposed to advertising individual stores.”
It’s the community aspect of her job that McKenna says she likes the most.
“Now that I’m a mother, I appreciate when people say they can relax a little here, and not worry when they let go of their children’s hand,” she says. “It’s a safe place – a family place.”