The story
Downtowners Street Fair in Bismarck
Downtowners Street Fair is a large fall arts, crafts, and food festival spanning seven blocks of downtown Bismarck, North Dakota. Created in 1973 as a merchant customer-appreciation event, the fair now runs its 53rd year with roughly 180 vendors and draws an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 attendees over its two-day September run.
Downtown Bismarck's merchant community organized what they called Customer Appreciation Days in 1973, a modest promotional event intended to draw shoppers back to the city center at a time when suburban shopping centers were beginning to draw retail activity away from traditional downtowns across the country.