“Winter Wrap-Up and What’s New”

Journal No. 1

What’s New | This is the first blog post for our new series we’re naming “On the Plaza.” Destination Caldwell already has their own blog, but we thought it would best serve our businesses and community to expand this idea exclusively to Indian Creak Plaza, “Caldwell’s Living Room.” This will be one of your best resources for what’s happening on downtown streets, on the plaza stage and inside local shops. Each post will provide a preview of what’s happening next so you can plan ahead to join your crew downtown for a day full of culinary experiences, live music, craft vendors and more. Our calendar is packed and we can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Winter Wrap-Up

Thank you for all your support this winter on Indian Creek Plaza. We do what we do for all of you and you guys SHOWED UP this season! There was an increase in visitors enjoying over a million lights, shopping local and eating at our incredible small businesses downtown. In this tough economy, it was so great to see the community come together and support local while having a blast. Many memories were made this season, making all the hard work worth it.

The success of this year’s Winter Wonderland Festival and plaza ice skating was a testament of how our valley is not only talking about Caldwell, but they’re coming over to see what the buzz is all about. Our reach is expanding. We have plans to reach further still, but Caldwell’s progress is apparent. As our city becomes even more of a destination, our number of unique small businesses will grow. We know of a few new businesses opening soon and we couldn’t be more thrilled. More about that in a later post. It’s astonishing how far we’ve come in just a few years, and it feels like the possibilities on the horizon are endless, at this rate.

We at Destination Caldwell, the non-profit organization that runs the Plaza, exists to support businesses throughout Caldwell. We’re their cheer squad and marketing team all under one roof. We keep track of who’s coming down and where they’re spending their time and money. We take this information and create fun and engaging events every month of the year. Our main objective is to get the community together and support small local businesses. Here are the more recent events that did just that.

Silent Disco and Theme Nights

Having such a unique outdoor ice rink and ribbon, we take advantage of it any chance we get. We plan many events on the ice every winter and this year was no exception. Our Silent Disco had a great turnout, and participants enjoyed four different live DJs throughout the night allowing ice skaters to switch back and forth between different music genres. The music came through on wireless headphones putting each skater in their own personal dance party. The bar was open and the stage was full for those who prefer dancing shoes to ice skates.

The past few Friday nights have been the hub of our themed events. We encouraged skaters to dress up, depending upon that evening’s focus. Some of our themes were Disney, School Spirit, Hawaiian Luau and others. These events brought the community downtown to enjoy a night of skating, dining at a local eatery and grabbing a cup of hot cocoa.

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Thanks again to everyone who came down and made this season a success. A special shout out to our benevolent sponsors for supporting our community through giving. We couldn’t do this without these generous donors:

 Ice Ribbon/Rink Naming Partners:

-          Lactalis Skate Shoppe (Lactalis USA)

-          Bogus Basin Skate Lounge (Bogus Basin)

-          Valley Wide Bar/Lounge (Valley Wide Cooperative)

Ice Penguin Partners:  

-          Interstate Trailers Plus

-          Oakes Brothers

-          Double X Bar Horse Ranch

-          Sound Hound Stereo

-          Sparklight

-          West Valley Medical

-          TDS Fiber

-          Lactalis

-          Bogus Basin

-          Pella Windows & Doors

-          St. Lukes Health Plan

Ice Glass Panel Partners:

-          Best Bath

-          Brighton

-          College of Idaho

-          Citi Bank

-          Corwin Ford

-          Crookham Company

-          CSHQA

-          D&B Supply

-          Eagle Floors Meridian

-          Eco View Windows

-          Idaho Power

-          Indian Creek Steakhouse

-          Lumen Fiber

-          Parma Post & Pole

-          Rogers Tires

-          Saint Alphonsus

-          Select Health

-          TDS Fiber

-          2C Sign Shoppe

-          Tates Rents

-          Valley Wide Cooperative

S E E Y O U O N T H E P L A Z A !