Staunton Tourism campaigns creatively throughout COVID-19 pandemic

STAUNTON, VA. (WVIR) – The pandemic has dwarfed Staunton’s top tourist attractions, and the city is creatively committed to keeping businesses afloat.

Baja Bean was the only store open until 2 a.m. seven nights a week. Then COVID-19 hit and it came with a curfew.

“That was a $ 1,000 segment of our business every day of the year. This is the average of our business between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM. So you know this was a $ 300,000 loss, ”said owner Sarah Lynch.

Lynch adds that sales were down 50% in 2019. And she is not alone.

“Our hotels are down $ 11.5 million since 2019. Our restaurants are down 40-50%, and these are independent restaurants,” said Tourism Director Sheryl Wagner.

Many Staunton attractions have gone virtual and there are no events taking place. “We’re still looking at Happy Birthday America and Queen City Mischief and Magic this year to see if we can and that brings in a lot of sales,” said Wagner.

But Staunton Tourism continues to respond to COVID with creative campaigns. The urge to shop locally and shift the focus from empty nests to the nest itself encouraged the many families back home to virtually learn to play in Staunton. “We were blown away by the success of this campaign,” said Wagner.

“Wander Love” invites people on a day trip to Staunton.

But the campaign that changed the heart of Queen City came at the request of small business owners in the city center.

“They said, ‘We need you to be brave and we need you to be creative and we want you to close Beverley Street on the weekends.’ And we said ‘OK’, said Wagner.

The result was “Dine Out in Downtown”. From June to January, the city closed four blocks of Beverley Street on weekends so people could eat outside.

At this point, Baja was doing most of its business. “Even if the weather was hot or threatened with rain, people would still be waiting to sit outside because they just felt safer outside,” Lynch said.

“I’ve heard from several restaurants, and not just restaurants on Beverley, that it helped them close their doors for good,” said Wagner.

Staunton is once again encouraging people to come downtown and beyond, this time with “Downtown shopping and dining” from April.

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