Shopping is no joke for April Fools Chickfest in Charles City

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

More than a hundred shoppers roamed around Charles City on Saturday, April 1 for Main Street’s biggest sales event of the year.

For more than a decade, local businesses have come together and coordinated to usher in the Spring shopping season with “Chickfest,” inviting ladies from around the area to see all that Charles City has to offer.

“It tends to be the best retail day of the year for the majority of the retailers,” said Joanna Thompson, event coordinator for the Charles City Area Chamber of Commerce.

In spite of Mother Nature playing an April Fools prank with an uncharacteristically snowy morning, a huge crowd shows up early in day to take part in the event, lining up in front of the Charles Theatre to receive goodie bags of coupons and gifts from participating businesses.

“We had some great stuff in the bags this year,” said Thompson. “There were so many people we were out in five minutes.”

With 20 participating locations, there was no shortage of stores to browse. Most of the stores were in walking distance of Main Street but some, like The Furniture Barn, invited shoppers to get out and around town.

“It’s been an amazing day, despite the weather,” said Tami Vetter, owner of The Rustic Corner and one of the spearheads of the event.

Each business added their own flavor to the event, offering specials or giveaways as people came in from around the area. At the Rustic Corner, Sara Broers was on site to sell and sign copies of her book “100 Things To Do In Iowa Before You Die.” Down the street at Dean Jewelers visitors were given

samples of fudge while further down Prologue Books & Wine had a special on morning Mimosas. Near the end of the day, Tellurian Brewing closed out

the event with live music.

“We had a lot of people in,” said Bethany Fleming of McCoy Smoothies. “I think it’s great for local businesses and for people to get to shop and be out in the community.”

“I think we saw a lot of new faces,” said Aliya Elsbury of Aroma’s Coffee. “It’s a good opportunity for people to explore their community and small businesses.”

Along with their own incentives, participants in the event were able to sign up for chamber drawings. Using a QR code to sign up, visitors at one store could enter to win gift certificates to another store, encouraging shoppers to hit different locations through the day.

Coming in ahead of Mothers Day and Graduation, Chickfest serves as a strong start for the Spring shopping season. Vetter said that she had at least 60 new customers come through The Rustic Corner during the day and Thompson counted more than 120 new visitors coming in from 39 different zip

codes registering for prizes at the various locations.

“It’s a great girls day,” said Vetter. “It’s just a great way to start up the spring shopping season.”