Usually, HUBFEST is one of the busiest days of the year for Heath Kleinke at his business The Shop Downtown, with the event drawing thousands of people to downtown Hattiesburg to enjoy food, arts, music and other activities.
But with this year’s cancellation of HUBFEST because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, downtown business owners are looking at taking a significant loss that day and throughout the weekend – in Kleinke’s case, to the tune of approximately $5,000.
“Obviously, that’s gross – not net – but that’s pretty much guaranteed every year,” Kleinke said. “It stinks, but I know that HUBFEST wouldn’t cancel something unless they had to, because they would have to return everybody’s money for vendor fees and stuff like that. So it’s just an economic issue; it’s not anybody’s fault, is the way I see it.”
HUBFEST, which is put on by the Area Development Partnership, was scheduled for March 28, but ADP officials announced on March 13 this year’s event would be canceled to allow the organization to do its part in minimizing the risk of spreading the virus at large gatherings. The event draws approximately 30,000 visitors to the downtown area each year.
“Our team worked for months in putting together the planned 35th anniversary of HUBFEST in downtown Hattiesburg,” ADP President Chad Newell said. “However, given the circumstances, canceling HUBFEST is the right move as we work together to aid in trying to keep our citizens healthy. Canceling HUBFEST is a financial blow to the ADP as it is our largest event of the year, but our organization is financially healthy and will digest the loss.
“This cancellation will also negatively impact our vendors and downtown Hattiesburg businesses, as HUBFEST typically brings about 30,000 folks to their doorsteps. Our community is extremely resilient and will maneuver through this difficult time. Our organization will continue to be a strong resource for our members as we help them weather the storm and prepare for brighter days.”
Andrea Saffle, executive director of the Downtown Hattiesburg Association, said given the situation, business owners have so far been understanding of the cancellation.
“If it were just the cancellation of HUBFEST for any other reason, they’d be a lot more upset – people are upset, but they understand,” she said. “It’s going to be a hit, because that is one of the largest, most-recognized events, as far as sales go.”
Although Kleinke, who also runs graphic design out of The Shop Downtown, didn’t do the T-shirt design for HUBFEST, he did design the official artwork for the event.
“I got paid for that, and I imagine we can probably just use the art next year and just change the date on it,” he said. “But the ADP is pretty cool about stuff like that. “Obviously, the business idea would be not to cancel anything unless you absolutely had to, because I know for a fact there’s been a couple of times where it’s been rainy or cold, and they’ve never canceled it that I know of before this, so it must be an issue. I don’t think it’s as much as a panic as people are (acting like), running to get toilet paper they don’t need. But there’s definitely a reason (for HUBFEST being canceled) – that’s probably too many people in one place, and you don’t know where everybody’s coming from.”
Kleinke said while the situation is not ideal, he knows the ADP acted in the best interest of residents and made the decision sooner rather than later.
“There’s no way around it at this point,” he said. “But if you’ve got everyone coming down here, and they had canceled it that day, then there would have been a bigger crisis. So at least they made the decision with plenty of time.”
Nelson Haskin, who owns Blu Jazz Café, Nellie’s Chicken and Daiquiris and SouthBound Bagel & Coffee Shop on Front Street, said the majority of downtown businesses rely on the weekend of HUBFEST as a jump start of sorts to the spring and summer seasons.
“That’s first and foremost, and then of course there’s the monetary impact that it has,” he said. “It brings a lot of new people downtown and sales increase, and we won’t have that (this year). I don’t really want to say a dollar amount, but we probably see a 60 percent increase in sales for that one day, or better.”
Although Haskin probably will temporarily reduce the business hours for his restaurants to help reduce the possibility of spreading the virus, he has no plans as of yet to close his locations.
“We’re just going to be smart about what we’re doing,” he said. “The restaurant industry is going to take a tremendous hit through this, because when you go out to eat, it’s a choice – it’s not mandatory that you have to go anywhere to get something to eat.
“So we’re just going to be smart about it and take it week by week. We plan on reducing hours a little bit, but not fully closing at this point.”
Saffle, along with other downtown and city officials, will now look at ways to help downtown businesses – as well as those affected throughout the city – be prepared for losses of any kind.
“Is their business model something that can be adjusted – maybe the restaurants can do carryout, curbside service, that kind of thing,” she said. “As an example, Main Street Books (owner Diane Shepherd) is moving to a picture and pottery next door, and doing that by appointments and having small groups.
“So that’s just a way to try and keep some form of cash flow going for these businesses, because obviously everybody’s business is going to be hurting for at least two months, if not three, if not the rest of the year – we don’t know. So we’re looking toward the future when this thing has crested and we’re kind of past the critical point of it, when things can start happening again.”
Although HUBFEST is out of the equation for this year, Saffle said downtown officials will be “ramped up and ready to go, full speed” with events as soon as possible.
“It’s not going to be HUBFEST, but is it some kind amalgamation of HUBFEST, Craft Beer Festival, Live at 5 – all those things,” she said. “We’re going to look at how we bring people back out and let them know that it’s coming.
“And we don’t know what that’s going to look like, but we’re having conversations down the road on all this.”
In addition to HUBFEST, the ADP also has canceled all other chamber of commerce and economic events through April 10, including the Legislative Forum on March 28, the Business After Hours at Community Bank on March 26 and Accelerate on April 3.
