PLANT CITY, Fla. — After Plant City Main Street Executive Director Dawn Hyatt recently announced she would be stepping down, the officials at the organization decided to pause its events through the end of September.
The move is leaving businesses and vendors in limbo, wondering how to replace the foot traffic the events brought in.
For one business owner in downtown Plant City, Main Street was the start of his business journey and the source that drew in customers to its free events. But with events paused for several months, a lack of foot traffic could soon change that.
For Cody Lenz, what started off as a hobby eventually transformed into the Three Hands Mead Company, which opened in 2021.
“Main Street was instrumental in helping us get our business launched here in Plant City,” he said, explaining that the organization helped him get grants and bring in new customers during Plant City downtown events.
Lenz said the decision to pause events will have a direct effect on his business.
“We have people that we only see once a month, and they come down here because of these events,” he said.
Plant City Main Street Vice President Lizzette Sarria said the pause will affect events like Last Friday, farmers markets and the most popular, Oktoberfest, which has been held in September.
“There is no way that a board of six, that has full-time jobs and other businesses, that we could run those events effectively,” she said.
Sarria said it was a tough decision to make, as the events drew in thousands of people and provide foot traffic many businesses rely on.
Lenz said he hopes some kind of replacement or solution can be found.
“If those vendors aren’t successful, they won’t want to come out,” he said. “If the brick-and-mortar place isn’t successful, they might not last.”
