Kids Entertainment
Following feedback from businesses in 2015/16, school holidays were particularly quiet trading times within the town, in particularly Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s when there was no market to draw people in.
Otley BID therefore trialed a fully funded series of FREE weekly kids entertainment events every Wednesday throughout the Summer school holidays of July and August of 2016.
The feedback we have received from the mums, dads, grandparents and carers has all been very positive. 64 children (and one adult) had their faces painted at one of the sessions which showed us that the events were drawing a good number of people into the town and that as the events began to gather momentum and get more well known, these numbers could increase.
The main aim was that any families who attended the mid morning to mid afternoon sessions, would then go on to purchase lunch, food and drink in the many cafes and takeaway outlets around the town, as well as spend time in and around the town either before or after the event.
Below are just a couple of comments that were posted on Social media:-
“Looks like everyone had fun once again. A huge well done to Otley BID”
“It was lovely to see the market area so busy on a Wednesday – good for trade and also the children enjoying themselves”
The events have now grown and have become even more popular, to the extent where we were struggling to set up, manage and break down the events with just a couple of volunteers.
In 2019 we therefore partnered with Breeze Leeds who fully manage the events on our behalf, fully funded by the BID.
Unfortunately in 2020 these events had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, however, our plan is to continue holding these events during Spring, Summer and Autumn school holidays once Government guidelines allow us to do so.