News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Aleksa Fortuna, owner of Blu Blends, passes a smoothie to a customer while at her shop on Friday at the new Water Street Commons in downtown Alpena.

ALPENA — Businesses downtown, including the ones at the new Water Street Commons, were busy during last weekend’s Alpena Flower Festival.

According to Alpena Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Anne Gentry, some business owners told her that they had seen a 30% increase in business compared to last year and many people were familiarized with the new small businesses at the market.

This was the first year the festival kicked up on Thursday and ended on Sunday. Gentry said the downtown was busy for the duration of the event. She said businesses noticed a significant increase in foot traffic and people were eager to spend.

“This year was definitely the most successful year so far for the event,” she said. “Some businesses said they were up 30% in sales almost every day and many said last year, they were just busy on Saturday, but this year they were busy the entire time.”

Gentry said including events, activities, and more floral displays in the alleyway downtown worked out well, as it was a place where people would congregate and also go in and out of the shops, restaurants, and bars nearby.

“The alley was packed every time I went down there during the course of the festival,” Gentry said. “Overall, it was a huge success, the weather was perfect, and most of the feedback we have been getting are from people and businesses that want us to continue to grow the Flower Festival.”

The festival this year included a 5K which Gentry believes helped to pull people into Alpena and into the festival. She said the Petal Pub Crawl on Thursday night, a new event, was also popular and many people made stops in all of the businesses who were participating in it.

The new market was unveiled last week and the Flower Festival offered the small businesses, which are set up in small cabins, to showcase their products on a significant sale. Gentry said the feedback from people who visited the market was positive and people were surprised by the uniqueness of the products available.

Hoverever, the cider tasting room, which will be opened by Knaebe’s Apple Farm and Ciderworks, was unable to open because it is still awaiting its liquor license from the state. Gentry said the large cabin is erected and it has been inspected and it won’t be long until it opens.

“Everything should be finished by next week and liquor control did its first investigation and it had no issues,” Gentry said. “There is like on more little follow up that needs to be done and then they should be able to get going. We don’t have an official opening date, but it should be pretty soon.”

Knaebe’s will be offering its hard cider, flights, and will be part of the social district downtown that allows people to take their drinks around the downtown with them.

Gentry said the Flower Festival is only the first of many many events in or near downtown. She said the annual Blues Festival is coming soon, on Saturday, June 21, and then the Michigan Brown Trout Festival is also on the horizon in July. Gentry said she expects the downtown to be busy most days, as the weather warms and school is out.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.