BRATTLEBORO — In a trial run for what could turn into a full-fledged dance festival next year, downtown Brattleboro will be alive with the sounds of music and the sight of many styles of dance throughout this weekend (July 20-22).
Headlined “Take a Chance and Dance,” the live performances are part of a full week of downtown promotions which also include traditional weekend summer sidewalk sales and an all-week free raffle for shoppers with a $1,000 shopping spree as grand prize.
The events are being coordinated by Building a Better Brattleboro, the downtown organization, and sponsored by the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We have break dancing, belly dancing, ballroom dancing, Bulgarian dancing - and lots of other kinds of dancing that doesn't start with a B for Brattleboro,” said Andrea Livermore, BaBB's executive director. “Think of it as a dance crawl!"
“Many of these events will be participatory,” Livermore said. “We are encouraging people to dance, spontaneously, in groups, in stores, whereever the spirit moves them."
The schedule includes several specific opportunities for public participation. Among these are a ballroom dance at The Church, and a dance at the American Legion featuring rock and roll, country and western and waltz tunes.
There is also an outdoor “ballroom tea dance” in Pliny Park Saturday from 4–5:30 p.m., and public contra dances at the River Garden Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. and at The Church Sunday evening. Admission charges apply to some of these events, see schedule.
Donna Simons, proprietor of Candle in the Night and a BaBB board member, helped coordinate the event. “We wanted to feature downtown Brattleboro in all of its unique, enthusiastic and creative glory,” she said, “so we are partnering with as many musical, whimsical and dance type offerings that we can think of to intrigue and engage folks in coming downtown.”
Many visitors will be rewarded by dance aficionados who will roam the streets with gift certificates good at participating downtown stores, Simons said.
The “take a chance” part refers to a free raffle that will be held via participating stores and restaurants. Shoppers can fill out raffle tickets in those stores to be entered to win a $1,000 downtown shopping spree. The winner can spend his or her $1,000 at any of the participating stores - all in one place, or spread over a number of retail locations.
Participating retailers will also have in-store raffles for prizes from their stores. All entries will then be combined for the grand drawing to take place on Sunday, July 22, at 1 p.m., in Pliny Park. Shoppers need not be present to win any prize.
The raffle promotion runs all week, with entries being accepted at participating stores downtown. Entries will be accepted in stores up until that store's drawing. Times of drawings can be found at www.brattleboro.com/shopanddance.
For a full and current schedule of raffle drawings and dance events, visit www.brattleboro.com/shopanddance. For regular updates, Like “Downtown Brattleboro” on Facebook.