Catch a break on a downtown patio

Andrea Roberts
Times Contributor

 

The beginning of summer saw two patios placed in the downtown area. They were an initiative of the Downtown Design Review Committee (DDRC), who will soon be adding two more patios.
The DDRC is a volunteer-based town committee with the aim of improving and revitalizing the Downtown Strathmore area. The patios, which were unveiled last year, were one of their design initiatives to give people somewhere to sit in the area while enjoying the sunshine.
“It is a nice place to sit and have a coffee with your friends,” says Chuck Proctor who works for the town and sits of the committee. “It is a nice place to come visit in the summer and we are trying to attract people to our downtown and to get people down here.”
Each of the patios has a picnic table, umbrella, planter, garbage bin and red, outdoor furniture in an effort to bring more people into the area.
Starting this year Proctor sent out letters to shops in the downtown area asking if they would like to host one of the patios outside their stores for the summer. Rocky’s Bakery, Aztec Realty, Co-op and Chinook Financial showed interest in the initiative.
The first two patios went up outside of Rocky’s Bakery and the Co-op on the street level, and the next two, will be slightly bigger.
One of them will sit on the astro-turf outside the Aztec Realty building, and a 20ft by 14ft patio will be placed in the empty lot between the Chinook Financial and Joyland Theater.
Despite the first two patios taking up parking space, Proctor says they have had good feedback and that they have been well used, especially during the recent downtown festival.
“They have been really busy,” said Ellie Blokland, of Rocky’s Bakery. “We have had a lot of new people coming into the bakery and they like to go out and sit out on the patios, so it has been very good since they put it up.”
The committee will be offering the downtown stores the opportunity to host one of the patios again next summer.