Fourth block party draws crowds to downtown

The Dock on Princess and Section 6 Brewing Co. hosted their fourth Summer Block Party on Princess Avenue on Saturday afternoon.

The event, held along the avenue between 11th Street and just past 12th Street, featured live music, a market with local vendors, community organizations, food and beverages and activities for families.

The Dock on Princess general manager Erin Wells said organizers expected about 1,000 to attend this year.

“The primary goal of the event is to bring people together while showcasing the vibrancy of downtown Brandon,” Wells told the Sun.

“We have lots of local vendors that come and several different community booths from the area, and then lots of local Westman musicians come out to play. So, we really just like to kind of showcase what we’ve got going on our corner here.”

Live entertainment was a major attraction throughout the day, with the Wheat City Jug Band among the performers taking to the stage. Wells said that a new, larger stage supplied by Look Music was among the additions introduced this year.

“We have our friends at Wheat City Wheatless, the bakery. They’re just new on the corner over here, so this is the first year with their store open,” she said. “They’ve been in the market before, but this is the first year with their store open, so that’s new. They’ve got a whole menu of gluten-free products available.”

About 10 vendors and five community organizations participated in the event, offering everything from handcrafted soaps and bath products to face painting and other artisan goods. Representatives from local museums and the Toy Masters Library were also on hand to engage visitors.

In addition to the market, Section 6 operated an outdoor beer garden featuring a variety of craft beers, while Princess on the Dock served food from both an outdoor canteen and its regular indoor menu.

Wells said favourable weather and the presence of other events in the city helped generate steady foot traffic throughout the day.

“I think we’ve had a great turnout today,” she said. “There were a couple of other events going on. I know there was the garden day up here at Stanley Park, and there was another market down at Princess Park, so I think we had more walk-through traffic. Everyone was coming through with their plants this morning from garden day, so I think we did get lots of people walking around seeing what’s happening. So that was really nice.”

Wells also acknowledged the support of local sponsors who helped make the event possible.

“We want to thank the Downtown BIZ. They helped sponsor our event, so without them it wouldn’t be possible,” she said. “And our friends at Progressive Westman also help sponsor their sanitation.”

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