Wild West Chickfest hailed a success

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Charles City enjoyed a wild day of Western-themed sales as local businesses came together for the annual Chickfest shopping event.

“The turnout has been great,” said Tami Vetter, owner of Rustic Corner. “Lots of people that we don’t normally see made the trip.”

The morning began bright and early as a line of women wrapped around the Charles City Arts Center to receive “Loot Bags” filled with coupons and gifts for the first 100 early birds.

“It’s a fun surprise,” said Pat Townsend, who arrived at 7:40 a.m. to be first in line for the bag giveaway.

The doors opened up promptly at 9 a.m. and within minutes all 100 bags had been distributed, with Laura Boyd lucking out at the last second to receive the final bag. From there the wave of women spread out across downtown Charles City, checking out the deals and special attractions that participating Main Street businesses had to offer.

“We’re excited to be here,” said shopper Shirley Platte. “It’s fun to go to all the stores.”

More than a dozen downtown businesses participated in the event, offering special promotions and fun attractions for shoppers to enjoy. From a lemonade bar at Cardigan to Sweet Mama Bakes samples at Prologue Books and Wine, plenty of snacks and drinks were also on hand as people made their way up and down Main Street.

For the kids, JJ’s Toys opened up for the event and Schiller Fine Art featured a small petting zoo photo op, with animals brought in by the Llost Llamas 4-H group.

Home-based businesses also had a place in the event, with more than 20 vendors setting up at the Columbus Club to sell goods and homemade crafts.

Beyond Main Street, businesses along Gilbert Street and South Grand also got in on the event, with The Furniture Barn, Ace Hardware, and Otto’s Oasis participating with their own offers and activities.

Encouraging customers to dress up in their best boots and fringiest flannel, the Western them offered businesses the opportunity to put on fun attractions for the crowd. The Rustic Corner offered hat decorations while at Otto’s Oasis customers could take a shot at a shooting gallery to win a prize.

“It’s nice to do something different,” said Lori Otto, owner of Otto’s Oasis. “It’s fun to think of things to do with that theme.”

Blessed by comfortable weather, the shopping event was well received by the Charles City shops and shoppers alike, getting locals out and about and bringing in out-of-town visitors for a fun day of shopping.

“We like supporting small towns and small businesses,” said Jessica Ulve, who came from Des Moines and met with friends from Ames and Mason City for the shopping event. “We were super pumped to come up here today.”