By Jen Ross
While it’s still too early to say just what priorities the new Sparks Street Mall merchants’ management board will have for the next three years, members such as Albert Gabbay are full of ideas.
At the adverstising and promotion committee meeting Jan. 16, members decided events like the International Busker Festival and the chicken and rib cook-off will go on as planned, with some changes. Gabbay says he’d like to see the mall host more events such as fashion shows, a murder mystery, outdoor tai chi classes, more petting zoos, and an Easter egg hunt.
“These ideas are strictly on the drawing board though,” cautions Gabbay. “I wouldn’t want anyone to read this and expect these ideas to all materialize, then be upset if they don’t.”
Some of his other ideas for improving the mall include a skating rink, live music after 6 p.m., performances to help promote National Arts Centre shows and street artists painting caricatures.
He says the committee may want to ask embassies for artifacts so each of Sparks’ five blocks could take turns representing a certain country or city.
The board is also spicing up the music in the pavilions with more variety and more “international flavor.”
Gabbay says most merchants want to clean up the pigeon problem in a humane way, while getting rid of some of the green pavilions, and setting up more benches, trees and flowerbeds along the street.
William Cornet says Sparks Street should get involved in more events like Winterlude, the tulip and the jazz festivals. But he says he’s more interested in the quality than in the quantity of events.
“There’s a difference between walkers and buyers,” says Cornet. “I’d like to see some of the existing activities go and I’d like to see more specialty shops because that’s what really sets Sparks Street apart from shopping centres.”