Laughter rings out as joyful families and couples on date nights stroll Bountiful’s Main Street ducking into art galleries and boutiques while enjoying yummy snacks from local shops and food trucks.

That description may not capture the reality of the Bountiful Main Street Stroll quite yet, but local merchants have high hopes it soon will as the warmer weather and longer evenings draw people out.

Beginning last September, the Bountiful Main Street Merchant Association launched the event held from 5 to 8 p.m. the first Friday of each month. Participating businesses keep their doors open later than usual and include art galleries, boutiques, a used book store, yarn store, ice cream shop, restaurants, dance wear shop, bakery and many more.  

“Our goal is to have more activities and events on our Historic Main Street and get community members out there and more involved,” said Heather Cunningham, president of the association and communications director for the Strategic Planning Group, located on Main Street in the old Bountiful Lumber Building.   

“We have a theme for each month’s stroll,” she continued. “In February it was a Valentine motif with related movies and games. Last month the theme was March madness and in April we focused on Easter and had an egg hunt and other activities.”

The stroll is more than just a way to get people to spend money downtown. According to Cunningham, it’s important to local merchants that people know what downtown has to offer and enjoy the benefits and even the beauty of visiting these unique shops in person. There’s also value in building relationships face to face.

Merchants hope that as word spreads about the event, crowds will grow and over time it will become a “can’t miss” activity. Based on the experiences of other communities like Park City with similar monthly strolls, it could take a good year for that to happen. Other cities have seen great success.

“We had a pretty good turnout in September at our first stroll,” said Cunningham, “and maybe even into October. But the cold months were challenging and we had rain at some. There were a lot more people at the March stroll. The Book Garden was packed as they were doing their free book days. It was fun seeing how lively everything was. We’re hoping for good weather moving forward, and are planning to add musicians, buskers and food trucks in the parking lot of CleanKIX.” 

Even businesses who choose not to stay open late for the event are encouraged to add to the festivities by sprucing up their storefronts or setting up an interactive game like cornhole or a chessboard.

Promotion for the stroll has included posts on Bountiful Main Street's Instagram and Facebook, downtown signs, the city and mayor's newsletters, and word-of-mouth from local merchants.

“Most of our merchants have been positive and hopeful so far,” said Cunningham. “Some have definitely seen an increase in foot traffic and are excited to see what spring and summer will bring. Time will tell. It’s been fun to see more people out walking around on the street.”