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DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. -- The Dobbs Ferry Festa will be celebrating its ninth year this October and the Festa Board is already busy planning out ways to build on the event's recent success.
"We want to get word out and build it up," said Paddy Steinschneider, the co-chair of the Festa Board.
The Festa is an annual event designed to create more business for shop owners in downtown Dobbs Ferry. The village closes Cedar St. and Main St. in the morning so local vendors can set up their display. Once the event kicks off in the afternoon, the downtown businesses are given a great deal of exposure for the day.
"Back in the 80s we started noticing businesses were losing customers slowly," Steinschneider said.
Steinschneider said that most locals agree that their favorite place to shop in Dobbs Ferry is downtown, but unfortunately for those businesses, not enough people come out. Steinschneider and others formed the downtown improvement committee in 2002 to help draw more business to the area.
"The downtown was not setting itself up right," he said.
The board consists of several volunteers who plan the event throughout the year to make sure everything is set up for the day.
"We do this because of our commitments to the village," Steinschneider said of his board working for free.
Booths are sold to vendors leading up to the Festa, with local businesses receiving a discount. Steinschneider said the board aims to raise $6,000 for the event so there is enough money to pay for the police, cleanup crew and then the acts of the actual Festa. With the Festa scheduled for Oct. 1, the board continues to raise money for the one-day event. Steinschneider said there's more to the event than just increasing business in Dobbs Ferry though.
"We're looking for ways of bringing character to the downtown," he said.
What is your favorite part of the annual Dobbs Ferry Festa? Let us know below in the comments section or on Facebook or Twitter.
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