White Plains Downtown District Management Association

See schedule o for the description on the special events programspecial eventsin fiscal year 22/23, most of the bid's special events returned. Jazzfest - jazzfest program consisted of 5 days. Jazzfest is a partnership between the bid, artswestchester and the city of White Plains. The bid hosted a jazz stroll, dinner & a show and sundays culminating event, similar to years past. Nearly 4,000 attended the events culminating event. Zombie walk - the 5th annual zombie walk returned in fall of 2022. A partnership with the galleria White Plains and the haunt of rocky ledge, participants were able to dress up like zombies and shuffle through the Downtown. Makeup artists were available at the galleria for zombie like make up touch ups. Afterwards attendees walked through the Downtown highlighting business specials offered exclusively to our zombies.oktoberfest brought 6,500 locals Downtown to delight in german beers sold by 12 local hospitality businesses. Several businesses provided seasonal oktoberfest dining options. An authentic oompah band played german classics and a plethora of competitions, games and family-friendly activities (including a sausage toss) took place on the 10/9 event. White Plains holiday market - the White Plains bid, the city of White Plains and 914popups once again partnered to host the annual holiday market, a two-week shopping experience in the heart of Downtown White Plains. The fy23 holiday market featured 46 vendors, in glass sheds, including 6 wooden sheds to help drive business in our Downtown. Entertainment at the market included visits from santa, cheery music and professional holiday photo sessions available for purchase. Restaurant month - the White Plains bid's restaurant month, a month dedicated to our Downtown restaurants featuring diverse menu options for lunch and/or dinner) returned from 1/3-1/31. Feedback was very positive from the 21 restaurants participating, to the community alike, so much so that the promotion was extended to 2/12th in 2023. Increases in sales were recorded from numerous restaurants. March into self care a promotion focused on salons, barber shops, day spas, nails, and more in Downtown White Plains returned again in 2023, offering discounts of 25% off select services such as haircuts, massages, facials, and acupuncture at 15 local salons, beauty businesses, barber shops and spas. Wing walk on april 22nd, wing walk returned allowing those having purchased an affordable tasting bracelet ($25) to stroll the Downtown sampling over 30 chicken wing flavors at 15 participating restaurants and vote for their favorite wings. The bid handled all marketing, payment processing as well as event day check ins. Thousands of wings were consumed. Entertainment was increased this year with live acoustic music curbside and a roving chicken mascot that delighted festival goers with fun selfies.

See schedule o for the description on bid placemaking/arts programmingbeautification & horticulturein the last fiscal year, the wpddma once again contracted with a nursery (tony caseli, Inc. as opposed to casa verde corporation from the past) to plant and maintain 49 large street planters and two tree wells. Each Downtown planter managed by the bid was filled with a dazzling array of flowers including canna pretoria, nicotiana saratoga, coleus, angelonia, impomoea and scaevola. These plantings coupled with many more done by the city of White Plains brought significant beauty to our Downtown corridors.the wpddma initiated a marketing campaign to encourage visitors and residents Downtown to explore the various businesses and support the local community.

See schedule o for the description on the clean sweep programclean sweep programthe White Plains Downtown District Management Association's (wpddma) clean sweep and gum removal program is designed to improve the cleanliness and attractiveness of the Downtown. Without this program Downtown, litter baskets would quickly be overwhelmed by the volume of pedestrians on the streets during lunch and evening hours. The wpddma's clean team, clad in highly recognizable and brightly colored yellow tee shirts, hats, and coats works 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year (about 5800 hours annually) to ensure that loose trash on the street is removed. In fiscal year 2022/2023 the clean team helped to remove over 2,000 trash bags per month from the business improvement District's sidewalks and its 99 trash receptacles. The wpddma's clean team also removes gum spots for the bid's sidewalks. This task is quite laborious as the gum is removed spot-by-spot from the city's sidewalks. Removing the gum this way complies with state law which requires the collection of any water used if power washing was utilized to remove the gum spots. Additionally, by not power washing, thousands of gallons of water are conserved. During fy22/23 the wpddma's clean team spent an approximate 100 hours removing gum Downtown.

Local business supportin addition to the three large programs above, the bid spent significant time welcoming new businesses to the neighborhood (coordinating ribbon cuttings, answering questions, distributing pertinent parts of city code, etc. ), marketing our local businesses on social media and in our e-newsletter, and serving as a liaison, most frequently between city government and local businesses with questions.