ST. CHARLES — Mayor Dan Borgmeyer sees the future of tourism in St. Charles in the large, year-round indoor farmers market planned for the City Centre Complex under construction along the riverfront.
Combined with a steamboat museum he hopes to build about a mile away, Borgmeyer has said he wants out-of-town visitors to find enough places to go in St. Charles to fill up their days — and spend their nights in local hotels.
But some residents — and city leaders — worry that Borgmeyer’s focus on boosting tourism by creating new attractions could ultimately doom what St. Charles has long been known for: its popular city-organized marquee festivals.
“’Christmas Traditions,’ ‘Legends and Lanterns’ and ‘Once Upon a Valentine’ are not just charming gatherings,” said Amy Senter, who owns Jake’s on Main, a boutique store on Main Street. “They are carefully crafted economic drivers built through years of branding and specialized event production.”
St. Charles puts on about 65 events annually. Of those, 40 are organized by the city’s special events and communications department, including the Watermelon Festival, Strawberry Festival, Tomato Festival, Pumpkin Festival, Apple Festival, Coffee Festival, street fairs and a pet parade, among others.
The convention and visitors bureau, which is part of city government, organizes the Legends and Lanterns, Christmas and Valentine festivals that involve role players, seasonal workers, elaborate costumes and more.
Those three events have grown over the years, attracting hundreds of thousands of people to downtown St. Charles annually. The Christmas festival’s popularity — and its costumed characters of yuletide figures and carolers — helped the city be recognized as one of the “Merriest Main Streets in America” by the “Today Show” last year.
But having two city departments organizing similar events is counterproductive, said Borgmeyer and St. Charles Director of Administration Larry Dobrosky, who cited a January weekend when both groups were hosting events in downtown.
The convention and visitors bureau hosted a Fire Arts Fest, which featured glass works, fire performers, a metalsmithing demonstration and the following day, the special events staff hosted an ice festival featuring ice sculptors on Main Street.
“They didn’t even know that one is one day and one is the other day,” Dobrosky said. “And they were two really good events, but had we coordinated that better and worked together better then what a great two days that could have been for everybody.”
‘A Robust City’
Earlier this summer, Borgmeyer and members of the city administration met with convention and visitors bureau staff and warned them that changes were coming to the department following the resignation of its director, Dan Krankeola.
After that meeting, people connected to the festivals told the City Council they were worried that the longtime directors of the three large festivals would be moved into new tourism roles, leaving other city staffers in charge of the massive productions.
“Without a focused team, the magic of those festivals that bring visitors from across the nation risk fading,” said Senter, the shop owner.
Borgmeyer’s announcement blindsided members of the convention and visitors bureau, including St. Charles City Councilman Justin Foust, who serves as one of council’s liaisons with the group. He said that meeting was “first time I have heard about the restructuring as a council member.”
The proposed restructuring, Borgmeyer later clarified, would create three standalone entities: special events, communications, and a revamped convention and visitors bureau to be renamed the tourism department.
The proposal proved controversial. For weeks, St. Charles city leaders have heard from dozens of upset residents and festival-goers. Opponents have carried signs urging the council to say “no on tourism restructure” at public meetings. City officials say they have received dozens of phone calls and emails from constituents angered by the proposal.
Borgmeyer has pushed back on the criticism. But last week he told the City Council that he is withdrawing his reorganization proposal for 90 days.
“There’s been lots of questions about structure, expenses, revenue, administration, synergy and other requirements,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that still need to be looked at.”
But Borgmeyer also said he was still considering making “big changes” and was consulting with his daughter and daughter-in-law, who work in corporate communications, about overhauling the communications department.
“We’re a very robust city right now,” Borgmeyer said. “And we are on fire, and we’re getting everybody’s attention as a result of that.”
Places to go, things to do
Borgmeyer has said St. Charles must look beyond regional day trippers if it wants to compete as a destination in the long term.
He envisions the new farmers market, part of the $85 million City Centre Complex going in at the former American Car Foundry property, as a way to attract tourists to the city — much like Pike Place Market does in Seattle.
The year-round farmers market would complement existing city attractions, such as the Lewis and Clark Boathouse, Chicken N Pickle in the Riverpointe development and the city’s historic Main Street and Frenchtown neighborhoods, he said. He envisions getting the Steamboat Arabia Museum to move from Kansas City to St. Charles and rebrand as a Steamboat Treasures of America.
The farmers market, city leaders have said, will be in a 100,000-square-foot space at 714 North Second Street, just north of the city’s historic Main Street area. Borgmeyer said city leaders have toured other farmers markets and consulted with the federal Department of Agriculture for help with setting it up.
“We are getting good advice by looking at these very successful models,” Borgmeyer said last week.
But banking on a farmers market to bring in tourists won’t work for St. Charles, said Stephen Powell, a former city convention and visitors director and who now owns his tourism consulting business based in St. Charles. Along with his wife, he also runs a pair of hotels here.
Powell said the farmers market would have to grow considerably to surpass other similar markets in the area, including the farmers market held in Tower Grove Park or the Soulard Farmers Market in St. Louis.
“Farmers markets are like art galleries,” Powell said. “It is something that people will go see when they’re here, but they won’t travel here to experience it.”
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Ethan Colbert | Post-Dispatch
St. Charles County reporter
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today