Nonprofit bringing Moveable Feast to Third Street
Published in the August 31 – September 13, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Zombies search for candy, not brains, at last year’s Safe Trick-or-treat event.
Morgan Hill Life file photo
The Morgan Hill Downtown Association is always seeking innovative ways to make the downtown experience a positive one for residents and visitors. The nonprofit organization will soon venture into the Moveable Feast food truck dining experience which has proven popular in other communities.
For six consecutive Wednesday evenings starting Sept. 14, a series of specialized food trucks will park along Third Street and provide culinary delights. The goal is to attract new people from throughout the region to downtown Morgan Hill so they can discover the many restaurants and retail shops during their visit. A Moveable Feast serves as part of the MHDA’s mission to grow the downtown’s business environment by introducing people to the city’s center.
The MHDA was started in 2002 with the mission to make downtown Morgan Hill the “heart of the community.” It’s governed by an all-volunteer board of directors responsible for shaping the vision and building the leadership among downtown business owners as well as residents who care enough about the downtown to get involved.
“The downtown association is a business-based organization and a membership-based organization to promote the downtown and make it a better place to live, work and play,” said John McKay, the MHDA’s board president.
Throughout the year, the MHDA puts on a number of community events that are either free to the public or require a ticket purchase to participate in. Popular events include the Brew Crawl, the Wine Stroll, the Off-the-Menu progressive dinner among restaurants, the Ladies’ Night Out shopping excursion, and the Safe Trick-or-Treat family event for children downtown. The past two years, the MHDA has also organized a popular Indie Market where crafters and artists sell their wares along the downtown sidewalks one Sunday afternoon a month during the summer.
“We do all this to bring people downtown,” McKay said. “There’s a fund-raising element to some of them, but the main goal we’re trying to accomplish is to constantly bring people downtown.”
Other activities include holding quarterly mixers where the community can meet with business owners and make new acquaintances. The association also puts on business seminars throughout the year to help merchants enhance their expertise on various matters relating to building their stores or restaurants.
“We also work with city staff and try to find out where we fit in,” McKay said.
One example is the Pop-up Park, a project launched downtown last year as an experiment to create a family-friendly place where the community can gather.
The Candy Parlour’s co-owner Nancy Reynolds serves as a member of the MHDA board of directors and said she stays involved because it is creating a healthy business environment for the downtown.
“It’s the most direct way to know what’s going to come to downtown,” she said. “You can stay informed and involved so you can help shape what’s going on downtown. As a business owner, I really want to encourage anything that’s going to bring more people downtown.”
Over the years, Reynolds has been encouraged with seeing the downtown grow, especially bringing in those in their 20s and 30s. Many come to enjoy the live music and comedy performances at the GVA Cafe Lounge at night or the outdoor dining experience at several of the restaurants such as Ladera Grill, Rosy’s at the Beach and Betto’s Bistro.
“What I see is that a lot of new people are coming downtown,” she said. “They want to walk around and check out what’s downtown.”
The special events such as the annual Ladies’ Night Out at retail stores and the Off-the-Menu progressive dinner at restaurants also increase traffic by exposing more people from throughout the region to learn what makes the downtown so special, she said.
The downtown is evolving and the MHDA is evolving with it to serve the changing needs of businesses as well as residents, McKay said.
“We care about the downtown. It’s always being said that downtown is the heart of the city, and I really believe that,” he said. “As our downtown keeps moving in the direction that it’s going, it’s going to be incredible and the benefits are just going to spread across the entire community. It’s going to bring in tourism. It’s going to bring in better shops and better restaurants not just for visitors but the people who live here in Morgan Hill. The quality of life is going to get better as we have a better downtown.”
