photo by: Mike Yoder

Downtown sidewalks are crowded with shoppers looking for bargains during the Midsummer Night on Mass sale on Friday, June 23, 2023, in downtown Lawrence.

Lawrence’s summer shopping spectacular, A Midsummer Night on Mass, is always big for downtown merchants – but they have reason to believe this Friday’s edition could be bigger than normal.

That’s because the specials at downtown businesses aren’t the only things happening that night. There’s also the Free State Festival, a free concert at the Granada, even the monthly Final Friday art walk.

“This summer, it’s like there’s so much going on, so I love it that it’s kind of all converging in that way,” said Jennifer McKnight, owner of Arizona Trading Co. and a member of the Downtown Lawrence Inc. board.

A Midsummer Night on Mass is from 4 to 10 p.m. on Friday and is expected to feature sidewalk sales and other specials at stores up and down Massachusetts Street. It’s something Downtown Lawrence Inc. has put on for four years now – it began in 2023 as a replacement for the former Downtown Lawrence Sidewalk Sale, which was held mostly during the day.

But this is the first time it’s shared a date with other big downtown celebrations.

The Free State Festival began earlier this week and runs through June 28, and on Friday night one of its headliners, English songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, will be performing at a sold-out concert at the Lawrence Arts Center at 8:30 p.m. There’s also the free Brass on Mass concert outside the Granada at 5 p.m., and the Final Friday art walk, which also will be happening at a variety of locations downtown.

(For more info on participating businesses in A Midsummer Night on Mass, you can visit msnonmass.com, and for Final Friday locations, go to explorelawrence.com/final-fridays.)

Rochelle Marsh, director of the Phoenix Gallery, said she expects a party atmosphere on Massachusetts Street.

“I imagine it will be,” she said. “With the concert being added, that really kind of changes things, so it’ll be good to have that. That way people really can kind of come down early, shop, get something to eat, and then go and enjoy the concerts.”

Marsh said that’s a big change from how the sale used to be. Back when it began more than 60 years ago, “the Sidewalk Sale used to be something so different,” she said.

“Back 65 years ago or whatever, there were a lot of housewives that could come down during the day and do their back-to-school shopping and all that stuff,” Marsh said. “That’s really just not how our society operates today.”

Morgan Fellers, owner of Eccentricity, agrees that the sale has “changed its look a little bit,” and she hopes this year’s extra events will be even better for business.

“The hope is that will bring them down and we will have more foot traffic than ever,” Fellers said.

Creative deals

For some stores, the Sidewalk Sale is a chance to get creative and do fun promotions they wouldn’t normally do.

McKnight’s Arizona Trading Co., for instance, is doing a “fill a bag” sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., before the evening of shopping starts. Customers can pay $10 to fill up a bag with clothes.

“We make it pretty irresistible,” she said. “… Like, $10 for a full bag of clothing is a pretty good deal.”

Other stores are advertising blind grab bags or boxes, including Striped Cow, Phoenix Gallery and Wonder Fair.

Wonder Fair also does an annual promotion for the summer sale called Blunder Fair, which is a special discount on merchandise that’s slightly damaged or didn’t sell well. Tristan Lindo, one of the “blunder buddies” who helps collect and discount merchandise for it, said people can often afford something that they’ve been eyeing for a while – “like, ‘I can get this thing!'”

“I know from all the things we’ve blundered so far there’s some really awesome stuff, as always,” Lindo said. “It’s always exciting. And I, too, am very curious about things, so if you don’t get it, I will!”

What Lindo particularly likes is how these promotions help people who want to participate in the arts but might have trouble affording the supplies they need.

“It really feels heartwarming,” Lindo said, “seeing people being able to get something that they’ve been second-guessing, like not being able to afford throughout the rest of the year.”

Other participating downtown businesses listed on the Midsummer Night on Mass website include Waxman Candles, Merchants Pub & Plate, Au Marche, Great Blue Heron Outdoors, Little K & Co., The Third Planet, Crescent Moon Winery, and Yarn Barn.

‘Hoping for a big year’

For many downtown merchants, the sale is a crucial part of their financial picture for the year.

Many stores cycle through merchandise on a seasonal basis, and Fellers said without the revenue from Midsummer Night on Mass, it would be harder to transition from summer into fall.

“I mean, it’s huge,” said Fellers, whose business has been part of this event and the previous Sidewalk Sale for nearly 20 years. The sale allows Eccentricity to clear out old merchandise, and at the same time “bring in cash flow for our fall merchandise, which is going to bulk up, obviously, with back to school.”

“It’s a little bit different” from the old Sidewalk Sale, “but it’s still super important for getting out the old and preparing for the new that comes in the fall,” she said.

Marsh is looking ever further ahead at this time of year. This is when Phoenix Gallery usually starts buying for the winter holiday season, she said, “believe it or not.”

“It’s great,” she said of the sale’s impact. “It helps us to get a little bit more income … so that way I have the ability to get in there and buy all the things we’re going to need to offer everybody for the holiday time.”

While McKnight said her store tends to see steady business even on ordinary days, “having a special sale brings out everybody all at once, which is really great.”

That can be an important way for stores to add more regular customers, she said.

“I think what’s great about a sale like this is that it gives people an opportunity to explore a store that they maybe have never been in before and it gets them familiar with it,” McKnight said.

That’s what’s happened at Wonder Fair over the years. “We have a lot of customers that return even after Blunder Fair,” Lindo said, some of whom bring their friends and family along. “… They always ask, ‘When’s the next Blunder Fair, when’s it happening?'”

And Fellers wondered if there might even be more people coming from out of town. She mentioned the national publicity Lawrence has been getting for welcoming the Algerian national team, and speculated that “maybe it’s going to pull in more people from Kansas City or surrounding small communities who just want to come and be a part of what’s been happening here.”

“I don’t exactly know what to expect,” Fellers said, “but I’m hoping for a big year.”