Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated attendance was tracked by Maricopa Police Department. The City of Maricopa uses a foot traffic data software called Placer.ai to track attendance at large-scale events.
Maricopa boasted an attendance of more than 3,300 people at its inaugural First Friday event last week.
It marked a major accomplishment for the team leaders who spent months behind the scenes organizing the Oct. 2 event. That included Copa Farmers Market founder Kevin Okuma.
“It was nice to see the vision come to life,” he told InMaricopa.
Kelly Anderson, executive director of the Greater Maricopa Business Alliance, agreed.
“It was electric,” she said. “It was amazing to see community having a safe, fun, good time.”
Like its name suggests, the event takes place the first Friday of each month, with walkable zones in the city’s Heritage District. It’s the brainchild of Councilmember Amber Liermann and was built to create a sense of engagement and community locally.
“People just have fun celebrating all the things that make Maricopa so unique and so special,” Liermann said.
Both Okuma and Anderson said the event went off without a hitch: there were no injuries or arrests, and the feedback from attendees was positive.
Numbers showed there were 64 vendors, an online engagement of more than 1,000 followers and 2,000 interactions since it opened, and attendance was recorded at 3,376 based on cell phones counted by a foot traffic data software called Placer.ai.
About 200 people hopped aboard a free shuttle with RIDE 347 as a local historian gave a tour of the Heritage District. The Maricopa Historical Society also reported a record number of visitors with 355 people walking through its exhibits.
In a debriefing session organizers had Tuesday, Chief Mark Goodman suggested some room for improvement: changing parking options, increased lighting and adjusting the event’s run-time from 6 -10 p.m. to 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
The time adjustment was particularly important so commuters would have time to get home and it could decrease the likelihood of pedestrian crashes. Organizers have already begun implementing some of those changes, as well as designating areas for vendors to safely load and unload for the event.
In the meantime, organizers hinted at other changes they’re looking forward to, such as the eventual opening of the pedestrian bridge.
“We’re just excited for the pedestrian bridge to open up for future First Fridays, to connect the Heritage District with Duke’s on the opposite side,” Anderson said.
