Emporia Main Street's PROMOTION programs are run by a committee of volunteers along with Main Street staff. Our promotion activities are focused on drawing visitors through year-round events, promoting local shopping, and marketing Downtown Emporia as a destination.
Emporia Main Street hosts or supports over 40 events each year. Our largest event, the Dirty Kanza Finish Line Party, brings over 10,000 visitors to downtown Emporia. Our Midnight Madness shopping event boosts sales at retailers throughout Emporia. All of our events promote a positive image of our community to both visitors and residents.
Whether we're putting on an event or reaching out through marketing, our promotion activities are designed to encourage economic activity and investment in our community.
Promotion Programs
Events
Emporia Main Street and the Promotions Committee host some of Emporia's biggest events, drawing thousands of visitors and locals each year. View our event calendar to see what's next.
Traffic Builders
Our events are designed not only to elevate the community, but also to provide exposure and foot traffic to our member businesses. Learn more here, and then contact us to register for an event!
Marketing Opportunities
Let us help promote you! Get your business in front our followers and other members.
Gift Certificate Program
Our gift certificate program is free for member businesses and encourages local shopping.
Promotion Committee Volunteers
Adam Eimer
Uncommon Threads
Brad Harzman
USD 243
Kelly Mayer
Emporia Convention & Visitors Bureau
Becky Smith
Twin Rivers Winery & City Commissioner
Patti Canson
Kim Redeker
Sweet Granada
Michele Boyce
KVOE
Kristy Bayer
Emporia State University
Interested in joining the Promotion Committee?
The Promotions Committee is great for those who like to help to plan events! Click the button below if you'd like to join!
Promotion Education
Emporia Gets a Bit More Magical!
Emporia Main Street along with several local businesses have become the new homes for a collection of Fairy Doors. The community is invited to come downtown starting this week and look high and low (well mostly low) around local businesses for some new and colorful installations. Emporia Main Street launched this concept to provide the…
Continue Reading >Targeted ads, in conjunction with traditional advertising, can lead to more spring traffic!
If you owned a restaurant, wouldn’t it be nice to have a mechanism to instantly reach out to people that were hungry? If you owned a retail shop that stocked sports apparel, how excited would you be if you could connect with people as they cheered for their team? If you sold entertainment, how amazing…
Continue Reading >Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and your communication strategy is key!
Last year we were still dealing with some COVID related impacts during the Valentine’s planning season. This is really the first Valentine’s in a couple of years where we can plan out and execute holiday sales. So, let’s delve into some best practices: Does your business have something special you want to communicate for Valentine’s…
Continue Reading >Last Minute Holiday Push
As we get closer to Christmas it is important for businesses to remember that there are A LOT of last minute Holiday Shoppers out there! Having a plan in place to capture these last minute sales can mean significant cash inflows as we wrap up the 4th quarter. So with a little more than a…
Continue Reading >The Holidays are HERE!
Your guide to some of the holiday events in Emporia! Thanksgiving week snuck up on a lot of us, and after Thanksgiving we hit a stretch run of fun activities for everyone! Here is the synopsis: Downtown Holiday Decorations, NOW- After a wind storm and over 25 years of use in the Kansas elements, the downtown…
Continue Reading >Pump Up Your Customer Service!
Simple ways you can create a better experience for your customers (leading to more traffic and better sales). We are in a weird consumer transitional time nationally and locally. Early pandemic protocols gave people a lot of free time with no place to go, and safety nets that changed buying patterns. Some potential students avoided…
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