SILER CITY — Make your way through downtown Siler City and you’ll see a recurring sight: triangle-shaped yellow flags placed in front of a variety of businesses up and down North Chatham Avenue.
For the retailers who fly them, the yellow flags are a simple message to passersby: we’re open. And in a downtown where vacant buildings and retail shops doubling as working art studios are in about equal supply, the flags are designed to alert visitors and shoppers that if you look closely enough, you’ll find something unique and special.
“You can look up and down the street,” says Sue Szary, who owns and operates Twin Birch and Teasel with her husband Rich, “and see who’s open at a glance.”
Szary describes those who participate in the initiative as a subgroup of the Siler City Merchants Association, mostly those in the arts community or those who sell hand-crafted items.
“In Siler City, we’re makers,” Szary said. “We have studios attached — we’re not solely retail. We’re a community of makers. We have open studios at any time, full of potters, painters and guitar makers.”
It’s not a new “thing” for downtown. The yellow flags, made by local artist Linda Person, started showing up about a decade ago. Szary said that the program was a way for the arts community to try to draw people downtown. Each artisan has a “focused clientele” and individual events will often bring folks from out of town to a specific shop. The idea, according to Szary, was to give those that come for one artist the opportunity to easily identify other similar shops that are in town.
But the yellow flags are no panacea.
While they may alert those who are in town about what’s there, they don’t necessarily draw people to downtown.
Chana Meeks, an owner of and artisan at Wild Women Chasing Periwinkle, notes that the participating merchants meet at least once a month to “brainstorm ideas” about bringing more people downtown to shop. They have tested Second Sundays and have coordinated events with other downtown associations such as the Siler City Merchants Association or the town’s parks and recreation department. Meeks notes that while some of those events have been good, others have been “duds.”
Oasis Fresh Market owner Jackie Adams said the same about the events, that maybe one a quarter is successful. For example, she said, the most successful events this year were the Chicken Festival, the Elderberry Festival and the Cycle NC event. She anticipates the next one will likely be the Christmas parade.
“Economically, it doesn’t always make sense to be open,” Adams said. “Sometimes it’s busy and sometimes I’ll lose money. I think we’re all just making it. I think we’re doing it because of our passions”
Brooke Simmons, owner of the Chatham Rabbit coffee shop, said the initiative has had its ebbs and flows in terms of effectiveness, but sees the collaboration as needed strategy. At the same time, she hopes the different downtown groups can come together under a single organization.
N.C. Arts Incubator Executive Director April Weaver echoed that sentiment. Weaver said she would like to see an umbrella group, similar to the Main Street program, so that there’s a “deliberate, focused marketing effort” that would possibly be town sanctioned.
“I look to Sanford’s marketing approach as something to look forward to,” said Weaver, whose office in the incubator is situated next to Chatham Rabbit on North Chatham.
Adams also spoke of a more coordinated approach.
“We are our own little market,” Adams said. “That’s what make us special. If we all took our passion and unified it — but again it has to be something that we decide — that we’re going to take the plunge, all hold hands and jump in together.”
Adams is also the president of the Siler City Merchants Association, which encompasses business throughout all of Siler City. She is also the chairman of the Siler City Downtown Advisory Committee, which has been working on what Szary calls “concrete suggestions for aesthetics of downtown.” Getting town support, she said, is a “real positive step.”
Adams says the group is focusing on making downtown “more pedestrian-friendly” — a place where people can walk, stop, sit on a bench and spend time downtown. She notes the town’s truck traffic, parking and general aesthetics are all areas of priority.
Store owners also believe that last week’s passage of Siler City’s beer and wine referenda may be a game-changer for downtown. As a result of the vote, businesses such as breweries, taprooms, wine tastings and craft beer suppliers can all view downtown Siler City as a viable location option. Adams hopes the town can build a destination, an event center or similar facility, to help create a draw.
“We are looking toward how to evolve and develop,” Szary said. “Moving forward maybe think more creatively about downtown...and bring a diversity of business. If you build it, they will come”
Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.