EAGLE, Idaho — Hope is on the horizon for some downtown Eagle businesses as the city decides to move some events back to downtown. I'm your Eagle neighborhood reporter, Alexander Huddleston, and as I've previously reported, the city moved many downtown festivities last year to city hall, citing safety concerns with ongoing construction. Now, plans are in place to bring the farmers market and all that extra foot traffic back to downtown Eagle.
"We get so used to easy access to everything that when it's not easy, we forget about it," said Sweet Tea Living owner Megan Hoiosen.
For around 18 months, road closures and construction projects have been jamming up downtown Eagle.
One Haute Cookie owner, Erin Gallegos, shrugged, "I think a lot of people saw that there were road signs up ahead, so they would turn and avoid the area."
This decline in traffic greatly affected business, with some owners telling me they have been down 25-30 percent in sales. Typically, these businesses can bank on the fun family events downtown to make up for the slow times, but that wasn't the case.
"The city has taken most of the historical events that are usually at Heritage Park, to city hall just for the safety of everyone," continued Gallegos.
Hoiosen added, "Eagle Fun Days, Saturday Markets, Country Christmas, all had to get moved to city hall."
Over the last few months, business owners like Hoiosen became concerned the events would stay near city hall even after the construction was done. So I reached out to Mayor Brad Pike to see why keeping them down the road was considered. He explained that as safe as Old State Street is, it was a more accessible and safe area near the library in the case of an emergency. He also said that not having to close down major roads made the events easier to operate.
But, at another town hall meeting on Monday night, business owners made sure that everyone was on the same page.
"We asked people to show up, voice their concerns, and send emails," said Hoiosen.
The agreement by the city was that as phase two of ACHD's Downtown Eagle Mobility Project continues, the city will renovate Heritage Park. Once that is done, events will be back on the strip.
The city of Eagle plans to be done with the remodel of Heritage Park by late November.
