Podcast #39 - Celebrating Downtown Magic with Vaney Hariri

[Music] Hello and welcome to Tips for Change. I'm Tiffany Mutzley, the Marketing Manager at Void Federal Credit Union. With the holidays here, today we're joined by Downtown Sioux Falls Board, member, Vani Herreri, to talk about the holiday magic that occurs in Downtown Sioux Falls. Hey, Vee. Hey, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm excellent. Thank you for having me. Thank you for joining us. I feel very special having you on my podcast and to have such an amazing podcast. So I'm really excited about that. Thank you. I'm excited. Do you want to just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Downtown Sioux Falls and the holiday festivities? Yeah, absolutely. So in my professional role, co-founder, thing 3D, but it as it relates to Downtown Sioux Falls, I am the board chair. So I've been on the committee or board in Downtown Sioux Falls for a better part of a decade. So it was one of my great loves. I worked down here, lived down here. Much of my life is Downtown. You've got to see it grow up then. Man, when we first started, there was tumbleweed rolling the streets, you know what I mean? And now to see shops open past six, to be able to see people on a Sunday populate Downtown the way they used to populate it on a Friday or a Saturday is amazing. And then when you start to think about all the developments that has happened, whether it be still district or Sherapa 1 and 2 or 8th and Railroad, all of those things creating some cohesion for people to be able to have a really robust experience in the end. It's something that we just didn't have before. Yeah, I love it. It's so excited. So what is coming up during the holiday season? So quite a few different things. I mean, there's a standard classic stuff like Parader Lights, which is one of our biggest events. Now Parader Lights is pretty cool because, you know, we're talking about a situation in the last couple years, we've been breaking 40,000. Yeah, I went last year and it was packed. Huge, huge, huge. And it was amazing weather too, so that was even better. So I want people to breathe this in. When you think about the population of Sioux Falls right now being in that 235,000 range to be able to have 40 plus thousand people in our downtown, think about how incredible that is. It was parking was a little difficult, but yeah, it's going to be challenging parking is always a thing. But even that though, when you start to have more things happen in the community like our pop up plazas that we would be having having like in our 12th Street courtyard there. Those type of things make it easy for people to move throughout the community and not have to park right in front of where they want to be. So it makes the walk a little bit engaged. Anybody that's been to a larger community like a New York or something like that. Walking doesn't seem as big of a deal. Not just because everybody else is doing it, but also because there's things to interact with. And now our downtown is getting to that place. The other thing that we're just really proud of is that our downtown and best vasseter program where we have more folks out in the street keeping things clean and green, but also enhancing it with lights and those type of things creating a corridor for people to make it to be able to see the falls fully lit up, which is also a great experience that people can participate in. So the creative lights is the day after Thanksgiving. So Black Friday. What time does that start? That's the big doozy. So the actual start time on that I believe is six. I need to verify that actually, but I believe it's six. And then there'll be some other events happening that day. So a lot of times, eighths and road roads, sticks and still have some things going on. Plum and those type of folks will have things going on. Like a holiday festival. Yeah. So different drives that they're doing and different various sales that they're having. This is such a great time for commerce as well, because especially when we talk about Black Friday, what we really want to put a focus on is small business. Saturday, we want people out going into these businesses and really supporting. And the key is that we don't want people supporting because it's a local business. We want people supporting because I local business are working really hard to create a unique experience for them. And it's another great opportunity to keep dollars in your community, which makes sure all of these amazing things really happen. And before the prayer of light, so is the tree lighting? Yes. Right before that. Is the tree lighting. Okay. And so anybody who's been outside of the pavilion and saw that big gorgeous beautiful tree, I'm not sure the time of that exactly either, but that big beautiful tree. It is one of the things that is really becoming thing and it's a big popular thing for the mayor. He's really embraced that and really got excited about being able to do that piece of it. So light that up is our kind of Rockefeller square type situation. And it's nice to be in how those type of experiences. So how do the local businesses and organizations really come together to make this a unique holiday experience for our community? For sure. Well, first of all, just in working in conjunction with each other in terms of small business Saturday, in terms of different sales and things that our nature with some support from some larger organizations is a big deal. But creating these curated experiences. Again, I use sticks and still as a prime example where usually they're bringing in somebody that might be doing custom jewelry or they might be bringing in a design person that's doing the thing. Plumb my bringing special chefs are very subtle. There's just more interactive experiences that people are having and then obviously it's always nice to be able to take advantage of a sale. Yeah. Just making that trip downtown worth it for the consumer. For sure. I mean, and like, you know, obviously we think it's worth an honor writing them Tuesday, but you know, it just makes it an event. And sometimes you need a real, you need a reason to do something that goes outside of your normal routine. And this is such a great example. And we always had, you know, folks like great outdoor store that's a little bit off the path a little bit that are our destination places that people are going to. But this is a great opportunity for people to move around and engage those type of things that they may not normally. And then of course, it's Phillips in general where you're going to get the lights. You're going to get the ability to pop into a space and have a great cocktail and come out with your friends and get a great meal. And that's what we want people to understand. We have something that's so special because what are the holidays really supposed to mean for people? It's supposed to be connection. It's supposed to be being around loved ones and people you care about. And there's a lot of people in a lot of places that there might be a lot of events going on, but there were people from whoever, wherever that you might not have any real connection to. We have the type of downtown. When you come down here and you're having this experience, you're going to bump into an old friend that person with a school where you haven't caught up with somebody that's back in town that you really want to connect with. And that's what ultimately makes it special. So everything we do is really aimed towards that. The other piece is that when you're just walking around, you combine that with the fact that we have our, you know, sculpture walk pieces and the lights at that time. We have a million dollars of art on the street. So most people can't boast that. So when you think about that piece of it, it's beautiful to look at. It's beautiful to walk. It's manageable. And you get a lot of great opportunities to engage with your small businesses. It really is magical walking downtown if it's snowing and all that stuff. So what are some opportunities in downtown Sioux Falls for people to give back to the community during this time? Yeah. So we always do kind of give back generally. It happens in a way of our downtown gives, which is kind of a coupon book that people can engage with and purchase where a lot of those will go to a local charity that we want to engage in. And so that's always an opportunity. Most of our organizations within downtown will do a piece themselves that people can contribute to. And then there's some things that we're working on right now to kind of reformat how we give to give people more options to do that. Some of those I'm not prepared to speak on, but they're going to be pretty cool and it's going to make it easy for people to be able to give on a consistent basis. Sure. I love that. Do you want to talk a little bit about some of the activities that are going on aside from the parade of lights, perhaps the Washington Pavilion or the state theater, anything like that? Yeah. Some cool things that are going on. They're actually going to have a production of Aladdin that will be here during that time at the Washington Pavilion. That's going to be super exciting. We want everybody to come out and check out those type of things because it's rare that we get that level. I mean, we've had some really good musicals and pieces come through, but that's one of the top tier ones. So we want everybody to enjoy that. There's always some events going on at the R Space and in the Kirby Science Center that we want people to engage in that new planetarium. Santa will be there too. Yes. Yes. Santa in the sleigh will always be there. Yes. And usually we have Santa in a couple different places, but he'll be there specifically. So you definitely want to check out Santa. It's funny. I forget that one because I don't have kids enough. A shot of the Santa. Well, that's always cool too. And that's the other thing too. There's a lot of opportunities for young people. And so when you talk about the Kirby Science Center and the Washington Pavilion, having various events available for your kids as well. So not everything is a date night. Sometimes you come in down with your family and we want to have some different options for people to do that as well. We always have some cool showings at the state theater. There'll be a couple special showings there that we want people to go in and check out. And if you have not been in the state theater since it's reopened, you really are missing out. It's such a great piece. It's so amazing. It's so comfy. It's too comfy. I've not made it through a single movie at the state theater one time. I've been to one and it was the Princess and the Frog with my four year old. So it was really fun and she loved it too. So it was a great experience. Well, when you're in there and for those who have not seen it. So imagine this beautiful, pristine, restored state theater that goes back to the time of old where people were lighting things with candles, right? And you have these amazing recliners that can set you all the way back. Affordable concessions, which it gets less and less affordable if you've been to a traditional movie and you get to see these movies that are really cool and nostalgic. My mother, I grew up in inner city Buffalo, New York and my mother was in a Disney and so we would be watching like Sound of Music or something like that and so if you can imagine us you know hudder around the TV watching the sound of music in the hood in Buffalo, New York like it's not a normal thing. So me and my mom got to go see Sound of Music together and that's just such a cool moment because that's just one of those things that we connected on but to be able to kick back in this great recliner and just relax and feel really really comfortable and have your space and not be giving you a hug when you sit in the yeah it's so good and if you and if you ever actually get an opportunity to take a tour of some of the different things where you see some of the different spaces you gotta check that out as well that's that's pretty awesome very cool do you know is there anything going on at the orpium at all on the other end of downtown? Yes there are there's a couple plays of pieces I don't know what they are specifically but everything everything that is an event space I think perhaps with the exception of the Multicultural Center will be activated in some way so the state theater Washington, Bavillion, or orpium all of those things I mean like there's gonna be some happening every weekend in all of these facilities throughout downtown. What is your personal favorite part of the holiday season downtown? I mean I'm praying to lights is a big one for me I have been a judge a few different years and every year that I've been a judge for the most part has been the warmer years yeah so that's a win yeah no kidding but I love people designing something you know putting some ingenuity together to really show off to the community and everybody coming together 5 6 7 people deep you know wanting to see these things that's always a big deal for me so I really enjoy that the tree being lit up is a big deal for me again my wife and I living downtown us being able to walk around these places it's a really big deal for me but I gotta tell you like my standard is just a general environment like when everything is lit up and the trees are lit up and the pipes are lit up and you know we in the way our streets work because they're a little bit narrow they have that kind of tunnel that happens like for me it's just a vibe and I just love that and just makes me feel good yeah that's awesome I remember last year at the parade of lights when the hotter balloon the when they went by and they pulled their fire oh my gosh that was that was awesome for both reasons number one it's cool to look at and I'm gonna sit up for like a second you're like hitting it again you know I love that and so I'm inside if it I I'm curious to see what type of weather we have for this one but again like it's just it's what people should appreciate about this downtown is like it's the uniqueness of it and I have people who come from all over the world and they tell us about this the uniqueness of being able to see through your downtown right and I have it be dwarfed out by buildings or not to feel claustrophobic by what it is that you're doing and to be able to have the type of access that you have to everything where there's nothing really in the way of it maybe some partner but it's not really in a way again that anything that you want to get at and everything is just really approachable and it doesn't feel overwhelmed or it doesn't feel like you're being overrun that's just such a special thing and that's the less of um that's more of a time thing than anything because eventually the city's population grows and it just gets more and more crowded so like this is one of those things that no matter how hard we try will eventually become something that's not really the case because the only way to get people to not come to your community is to make it a not great community we not doing that and so with this community more and more people are going to be here so these are those moments in time where you get to have a connection or relationship with your downtown and I just encourage everybody to take advantage of it and let your kids experience it I love it I love that there is something from one end of downtown all the way to the falls and it's just such a good experience and and so much to do yeah the whole deal and then and then like you know that's due November and December and then immediately after that we got burger yeah you got all sorts of things going on how many participants are you expecting this year oh my goodness we're kind of nervous about that I would expect at least 30 plus that's crazy how are you supposed to eat that many burgers you're not every single year somebody gets more and more annoyed with me I did I did have the ideas of board remember that we do a burger advant calendar oh so I'm doing you do a different one of the people every year they're like how am I supposed to eat all these burgers and I'm like me downtown Sioux Falls your doctor an American Heart Association all agree you should not eat all of the burgers to yourself totally that is not to go although they're thank you for plugging American Heart Association I'm co-chair go read for women events I love that thank you yeah and we'll also have that event in February so after the burger battle and see guys can all come and learn about heart house yes yes but what we love about it though is is the the challenge of doing it all makes people really have to prioritize what they want to do it makes our chefs and our our cooks in our kitchens really have to be thoughtful about what they want to make to really attract people and then what it does is that thing is the best thing and encourages people in order to try all of those things to do it together and I just think that's so underrated we've had people get in a limo like eight people deep go to eight different restaurants and then they all split them up or whatever yeah that for me is like super fun and that's something that's very hard to do in other community and that's a good way to beat the winter blues to right for sure because that's what a lot of this is about there's some other things that we're cooking and like I said I don't want to get out in front of the organization but we're really taking that seriously in terms of thinking about how we light things and create things that are interactive because we want to be offensive we all know that everybody gets down during the winter and it's a community thing and we as a community have to respond to that and make sure that we're creating environments and events that allow people to be their best selves year round we're not just going to shut it down for three months that's not on the table and so we're thinking about how we do that so there's a couple things that I hope to talk about soon that we can't really get into just yet that I think would be really cool that people are gonna like but and then the addition of art as well you know whether it be our various murals that are up and different things that are gonna be going on at the levitt and you won't see much of it this year but years going for it when we have Jacobson Plaza that's going to change super excited for that yeah I mean we went in it's incredible yeah it's gonna be amazing for everybody oh my goodness so you have the ice skating ribbon and anybody who's been around these conversations we've been talking about skating ranked out here for a long time and has been a very longstanding conversation and now to have that to be able to have a sensory park that's going to be one of the best in the region for folks you know young people who might have some various challenges for them to be able to participate in a way that they would like to participate is huge but I want you to think about what all of these things mean like together so for you to be able to have you know the levitt Jameson Plaza you know these things right across from retail and restaurants at cascades and all of those different type of things and then the Jones all of that happening right there and when you're talking about a block when you talk about the greater block of Phillips and you talking about all of the things that are happening there when you talk about an eighth and railroad now to have should wrap a two going online a rail yard flat and then you're talking about having eighth and railroad everything that's happening on the boardwalk even if you just stayed in a two three block radius you're gonna experience a lot of awesome things it's so like I just kudos to the team at DTSF the city they're doing a lot of things with our parks department and things in that nature so kudos to them and then all of the people who are doing the work who are getting up on cranes and putting up the lights and doing all those other type of things a lot of times I can go and notice and so shout out to all those people as well. Well that thank you so much for this this has been a really great conversation and I'm glad that you were able to join us for this. Is there anything else that you want to share or I just want people to keep their eyes for all of those things and just this is such a great opportunity to to to commit to coming downtown and say okay here's a great opportunity for me to do this in November here's a great opportunity for me to do this in December you got burger battle where that's going to bring you back and not too long after that we're going to be talking about restaurant week which is something that think 3D personally sponsors that we actually team up with Samson House on was a normal hungry for true and so there's a great opportunity there for people to participate but bottom line is we're really working hard to create these opportunities for people to come and really enjoy and so it'd be nice for people to come down really see what it has to offer and they're going to love it and so we'll see you on Black Friday when we kick off with the holiday parade the parade of lights absolutely awesome thank you for joining us appreciate you and thank you for tuning in for tips for change we'll see you next time