Takeaways from last year's Saratoga Nights? More food, entertainment options this year

One year after Saratoga Nights was introduced to revitalize downtown foot traffic, its organizers are evaluating how to make the event series better this year with more food offerings and more diverse entertainment.

Saratoga Nights is a free, family-friendly community gathering in Saratoga Village scheduled on the first Thursday of every month. The city’s chamber of commerce hosts live music, pop-up vendors and special guests each month. Last year, the series ran from April to October. This year’s series kicked off in May and will be held on the first Thursday of every month through October.

Saratoga Chamber of Commerce President Jim Cargill said Saratoga Nights was conceived to introduce a small-scale event series and showcase restaurants and other businesses in the city, bring some notoriety to the Saratoga Village and give the residents something fun to do an evening to generate regular foot traffic.

“The idea wasn’t necessarily that it was going to be a huge moneymaker on that particular night, though we hope businesses do well,” Cargill said. “What it really does is introduce people to the fact that there are restaurants and unique shops there, so maybe they will come back on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday night. It creates that regular foot traffic.”

Cargill said last year’s Saratoga Nights got a lot of feedback from guests and other city leaders, and that the monthly events consistently drew a crowd of a couple hundred people on average, with good attendance in April and May, but some months, like June, were lighter. He found that attendance spiked if they had a live performance.

“What impresses me most about Saratoga Nights is the sense of camaraderie and community it fosters,” said Councilmember Kookie Fitzsimmons in an email to this news organization. “It brings people together in a fun, welcoming environment where neighbors can connect, share ideas and experiences, and strengthen relationships across different groups. Events like this help create the hometown feel that makes Saratoga such a special place to live.”

Cargill recalled positive responses from the community for bringing in a line dancing instructor for an Americana-themed first Thursday around the Fourth of July last year and for an Oktoberfest-themed event with an array of bratwurst, sausages and hot dogs.

Although neither the city nor the chamber could provide hard numbers for the economic impact of Saratoga Nights on local businesses, Cargill said that several restaurants, like Anchors and Big Basin Burger Bar, noticed a bump in business on those nights. Some wineries, like Cooper-Garrod and Cargill’s own House Family Vineyards, donated wine to sell, which raises money to be put back into the event series.

After hearing feedback that community members appreciated having more food options at these events, Saratoga Nights kicked off this year in May by collaborating with the local farmers market and the nonprofit Successful Aging Solutions and Community Consulting. Although it was not technically a certified farmers market, the health department sanctioned the sale of the produce through certified vendors, Cargill said. Any produce not sold at the market was donated to SASCC’s food pantry, he added.

“We were able to get some really nice stone fruit and fresh strawberries to sell at our event,” Cargill said. “It was very well-received, and we’re going to do it again. It creates a complete experience: You grab dinner, have a beer or a glass of wine, listen to a band, grab some fresh produce, stroll around town and go home.”

Organizers acknowledged that there’s still room for improvement. Cargill said he thought that they could improve the diversity of entertainment. He acknowledged that the bands they brought in were “really good and entertaining, but added that they were a bit one-dimensional.” Saratoga Mayor Chuck Page echoed the sentiment, saying that he would like to “see an event where there’s some really good dance music,” even if the band wasn’t from Saratoga.

“If there’s a local band that will perform and can do a great job, that’s awesome, but at events like this, I find that sometimes you bring people from outside,” Page said. “First of all, it is meant to bring the community together, but it was also intended to get the businesses involved, get people down here to see what kind of businesses there are, specifically in downtown.”

Cargill said he’s looking for local arts groups - be there focus on poetry, comedy, martial arts or dance - to step up and perform. Local band Ambervox played in May, and British invasion cover band Nigel and Clive was set to play this Thursday.

“We need to create grassroots foot traffic so businesses feel comfortable taking a chance on opening here,” Cargill said. “It needs to grow organically.”

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