COLORADO SPRINGS — Skate in the Park has grown to a tradition in Colorado Springs and is also evidence of how good marketing has economic impact.
“We absolutely love it. It's been awesome to see how full it's been over there over the last several months,” said Michael Mauk who runs the Pikes Peak Lemonade Company right across the street from the temporary ice rink.
Pikes Peak Lemonade is a local owned specialty shop serving both cold and warm lemonade.
“Warm lemonade is very popular. Like our warm caramel apple lemonade, candy apple lemonade, one of my personal favorites, sugar cookie lemonade,” said Mauk.
While serving up drinks, part of the Pikes Peak Lemonade Company tradition is chatting with customers.
Many talk about being downtown to skate.
Mauk said, “It does bring in a lot of traffic, a lot of families.”
Skate in the park is a foundation marketing event for the Colorado Springs Downtown Partnership.
It went from a trial a few years back, to tradition because it is so popular.
“The hope is once they're down here they decide, you know, they want to grab a bite, they want to grab a hot chocolate, they want to grab a drink or pop into a retailer,” said Carrie Simison with the Downtown Partnership.
Simison shared data showing paid skating admissions for Skate in the Park is close to 20,000 people.
The number is just those with paid admissions, not family and friends who prefer to watch.
“Generally, anyone that comes to skate comes with about 2.5 people,” said Simison.
Whether downtown for skating or another scheduled event during the year, the mostly locally owned small downtown businesses get help from marketing events.
“We get them down here for an event and then they discover other places that are new to them or that they haven't been in a while,” said Simison.
Shop owners hear from customers who come for an event and stick around to check-out shops.
The is also research showing the right kind of marketing improves business.
“Overwhelmingly, when we survey after these events, we have people tell us they've discovered a new business downtown,” said Simison.
Skate in the park starts for the holiday season and then runs through January to encourage people to still come downtown after the holiday rush.
Skate in the park comes to a close at the end of January.
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