MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Today is the opening day for downtown Marquette’s Social District, The Lake Superior Community Partnership hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for The Downtown Development Authority to celebrate.
Business participating in the social district are getting ready, and making sure they have the required stickers and cups to participate in the district. Breakers Roadhouse, The Ore Dock Brewing Company, The Vierling, The Landmark Inn, Vangos, Superior Culture, Third Base Bar, and Kognisjon Bryggeri are the first 8 restaurants that will be participating. Terry Doyle, owner of The Vierling Restaurant says he and his staff are excited to see people participating in the social district.
“We’re scrambling, we’re moving out an ice cream freezer because we need more room for people to come in and wait for a cocktail,” Doyle says, “so we’re trying to figure out how to do all this, but we’re all very excited, it’ll be exciting for downtown Marquette.”
From 11am to 10pm, Monday through Sunday, you can now participate in the social district by purchasing a designated social district drink from participating restaurants, you can then enjoy your drink and walk around in the marked district area in downtown Marquette.
Kris Wierenga with The Ore Dock Brewing Company says they’re excited to se the community the district encourages during downtown events like the farmers market.
“Just getting people out and around enjoying the downtown and creating a vibrant downtown,” Wierenga says, “I think that’s really what the city is trying to do and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
Tara Laase-McKinney, The Director of The DDA says she’s glad they were able to get the district open in time for summer, and that she’s excited to see people participating during the events downtown.
“It’s very exciting to finally have all of this hard work that we’ve been really planning since early this winter” Laase-McKinney says, “it’s been a lot of hard work, so we’re really happy to have that all come to fruition”
With just 8 business participating to start off, Laase-McKinney says she expects there to be 12 to 15 on that list by the end of the summer.
