Special Improvement District Borough Of Redbank Inc

Programs: In 2017, red bank rivercenter (the special improvement district for the borough of red bank) advanced its mission to be the people's choice for dining, playing, working, and shopping by promoting local merchants, recruiting new businesses, staging vibrant downtown events, and beautifying our streetscapes. During this time we: courted new businesses:in addition to promoting red bank on line, on the air, and in print as a great place to open a business, rivercenter spent countless hours behind the scenes reaching out to prospective business owners, showing them the town, and connecting them to realtors, building owners, business owners and movers and shakers in town. Once a business decided to move in, we helped smooth their transition by opening doors, answering questions, and creating a buzz in advance of their opening. In addition to recruiting new businesses, rivercenter helped retain current businesses by publishing a comprehensive "handbook for doing business in red bank". The handbook provides businesses with information on ordinances and regulations in the borough, promotional events, who to contact in different situations, how to start and expansion, and more. The handbook is available on line or in print. Put red bank's best foot forward:with targeted dollars and programs we - began a major streetscape improvement project to white street and english plaza - kept downtown sidewalks and curbsides litter free through the efforts of our two part-time sidewalk ambassadors - beautified our streetscapes with seasonal blooms from april to november through our horticulture program, a partnership between rivercenter, the borough of red bank, and volunteers from local gardening clubs - filled downtown streets with live music and visual artists to create a festive atmosphere and entertain our visitors every saturday night and selected thursday nights during summer and during the holiday shopping season through our streetlife and holiday harmonies programs, with our own funding and with a grant from monmoutharts - festooned our streets with lights and holiday decorations to foster sales and holiday cheer - improved vacant storefronts with more attractive signage - reviewed and gave input on more than 50 construction proposals and worked with business owners and the borough to ensure facades and signage met guidelines helped our businesses succeedwe spearheaded special promotions and events that brought tens of thousands of people into town and introduced them to our restaurants, retailers, and service providers - all year: implemented advertising and marketing campaigns to promote red bank to targets in new york, philadelphia and beyond; the campaign creation was funded by the nj department of state, division of travel and tourism; and by local business partners - all year: managed and promoted the red bank gift card program, selling more than $25,000 of which more than $12,000 was redeemed at red bank restaurants, retailers, and service providers during 2017 - february/march: restaurant week encouraged hundreds of new faces to brave snow and ice to try our restaurants during the february doldrums - march: red bank wedding walk filled the streets and shops with hundreds of bridal party members to book red bank vendors for their special day - and book they did. - april & september: international and guinness oyster festivals brought tens of thousands from the tri-state area to enjoy red bank's music, food, and shops - july: indie street film festival brought hundreds of people to town over a 5 day period to enjoy the work of independent filmmakers from around the world; presented in partnership with indie street institute, this inaugural event also engaged dozens of red bank businesses as venues for film screening, receptions, parties and award ceremonies - july: the 63rd annual sidewalk sale brought hundreds of bargain hunters into town - november & december: the holiday shopping season included the holiday express concert, town and tree lighting, small business saturday, menorah lighting, holiday harmonies musicians strolling through town, pictures with santa, holiday movie madness scavenger hunt, free horse drawn wagon rides and 10 days of free parking. Supported those in need:in 2017, rivercenter distributed over $28,000 to local charities from the proceeds of our two festivals. The nonprofit beneficiaries were holiday express, habcore, booker cancer center at riverview medical center and the parker family health center.