Downtown Prince George is a non-profit society that works to support downtown business & property owners through events, promotions, beautification, and initiatives for business development. Every property owner & business owner in the downtown is entitled to a membership with Downtown PG.
A major undertaking for the organization are their seasonal events like Downtown Winterfest, Downtown Fallfest, and Downtown Summerfest. Through the years these events have been a major draw to the downtown area for members of the community, providing unique & memorable experiences for Prince George residents while also offering support, exposure, & foot traffic to businesses located in the area.
While major events were put on hold globally over the last while, Downtown PG did not press pause on supporting their members. Instead, DPG began a pivot on their major seasonal events, transforming them into drive-through, enjoy from home, or flow-through style events. These initiatives helped businesses in the downtown core to get out & interact with the community as they navigated through supply-chain, pandemic, and transportation issues. These re-imagined events also provided the community with fun & engaging ways to interact with the downtown & businesses in a safe way while still supporting local.
“Supporting Local” is a message Downtown PG lives by, as they look for more & more ways to invite people to support local businesses in the community. A major initiative put on by the society is “Plaid Friday”, a local-level day of shopping centered around supporting small, community minded & local businesses instead of ordering everything online for the holidays.
Colleen Van Mook, Executive Director for Downtown PG, says it has been great to see the support the community of PG has for its local businesses. “We’re noticing that people really do want to come out & support downtown”.
The PG community’s support for the recent events & initiatives has been promising, as Colleen explains “People are coming downtown, they’re shopping local, eating in restaurants, and really helping our businesses”.
Downtown PG also recently launched their new “Love Downtown PG” initiative, supporting local entrepreneurs by providing unique marketing campaigns & support.
Collen says “we continue to have to think differently” in regards to their local event planning. The Downtown PG team asks Prince George to “stay tuned” as they plan their next upcoming seasonal event: Downtown Winterfest.
Downtown PG is located at 1406 2nd Avenue in Prince George.
