Culture Day brings town centre benefits

LOCAL shop staff reported bumper trade during Culture Day on Saturday.

Forres town centre was packed with visitors and performers from Grant Park to Nairn Road.

The event, from 11am-4pm on Day four of Findhorn Bay Art’s Culture week, saw cafés, shops and civic buildings come alive with street theatre, performance art, music, dance, and other activities for people of all ages. More than 100 artists worked with Moray-wide creative businesses and community groups at the cultural extravaganza, revitalising the High Street.

“Culture Day was good,” said Keystore manager, Abdul Khan. “It should happen more often.

“However, there needs to be more publicity locally and in other areas - lots of people were asking what was going on!”

Nickel and Dime assistant, Megan Christie, confirmed the shop was busier than normal.

“We didn’t get to see much of the event,” she regretted, “as we were too busy working!”

Ashleigh Macdonald of the British Red Cross shop was also really busy.

“It was nice to see the different cultures of all the visitors,” she said. “It looked like everyone was having a good time.”

“We were nonstop,” agreed Karysia Stone at MacLean’s Highland Bakery. “Customers came in one after the other - it was a good day for Forres.”

Chris Lewtas, assistant manager of Home Hardware, said their coffee shop was at its busiest for a long time, while the store also had a lot of footfall.

“Culture Day was brilliant,” he said. “Anything that brings more folk on to the High Street should be encouraged and hopefully we’ll have more events like it in future.”

Victoria Johnson, store manager of Boots said that performances outside her store doors helped trade.

“There was a great atmosphere in the town centre,” she added. “It’s nice to see this annual event - a lot of our customers said that too.”

“We were very, very busy,” said Timeout waitress, Robin Reinert. “It was heaving at times. The event looked cool - everyone was having fun in good spirits.”

Pia Wallace of Fika on Tolbooth Street agreed Culture Day was good for business. She also thought it was an excellent event in terms of organisation and performance.

COOP manager, Craig Milton, confirmed sales were up. “More events of this kind would help High Street shops,” he added.

“It was amazingly busy on Saturday,” said Charley’s Sandwich Bar manageress, Andrea McKenzie. “We had all sorts of customers in, including lots of new faces.

“We didn’t know what to make of some of the random performers that passed by but I’d like to see Culture Day happen here every week!”

Carly Smith of Sweet Explosion reported better trade than that of Piping Hot Forres and the Highland Games.

“We had customers from Glasgow who had come up especially for the event,” she said. “It was brilliant for the town and great to see so many people getting involved.”

However, not all shop owners benefitted from the influx of visitors to the town centre.

“I was surprised,” said Sandra Davidson of Home Comforts. “Saturday was the quietest day we’ve had since we opened three weeks ago!

“I was told by a few shops workers that their trade was down.”

Read a full report of the action with pictures in next week’s ‘Gazette.”