The Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) has approved a $5,000 grant to support a series of special events aimed at driving visitors downtown and raising the downtown district’s profile as a shopping destination. The DIB board of directors approved the grant at the request of downtown merchants Samantha Breedlove of Rusted Arrow Mercantile and Katie Bosso of Indigeaux Denim Bar & Boutique, representing Shops of Palafox, at its board meeting on Feb. 27.

Rusted Arrow, Indigeaux, and more recently Shops of Palafox, a consortium of Palafox Street retail shops from Garden to Main Street, have produced successful quarterly events attracting visitors on a local and regional level for the past seven years. While the events are shopping-centric, they have shown to have a significant and positive impact on surrounding restaurants, bars and nightclubs as well.

“Supporting all of the small businesses in downtown Pensacola is a high priority of the DIB,” said Walker Wilson, DIB executive director. “Working hand in hand with our local retailers brings not only a benefit to each of them but also spills over to all of the restaurants, coffee shops, and bars downtown.”

 The grant will supplement the overall budget to help Shops of Palafox increase the economic impact of its events to downtown Pensacola this year.  

Special events are a means of enhancing, marketing, and promoting Downtown Pensacola’s small businesses to stimulate local business, community, and commerce activities within the urban core. “Small businesses are the bedrock of our community and provide countless jobs to the citizens of Pensacola & Escambia County,” said Wilson, “And we are proud to support them.”

Mardi Gras lovers and krewes are invited to shop for Mardi Gras-themed and other locally made and sourced goods on Saturday, Feb. 3 from 9am-2pm at both Palafox Market locations!

DIB’s street and sidewalk cleaning contractor to employ a new full-time Cleaning Ambassador to provide pressure washing for downtown sidewalks

DIB announced it will keep Palafox Street tree trunks lighted for the rest of the year after other holiday lights come down on January 15th

With three years of downtown Pensacola successes in mind, the board of directors of the Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) unanimously voted today to extend the contract of executive director Walker Wilson for another three year term. Wilson, who was selected in 2020 from a competitive pool of 53 candidates, assumed the position on October 1st of the same year. Within his first six months, he steered downtown through the challenges posed by Hurricane Sally and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while simultaneously reducing overhead costs by 5% and launching significant initiatives for the 44-block downtown district.