APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – “License to Cruise” and Octoberfest are canceled for the second consecutive year.
Some College Avenue businesses were looking forward to next weekend, when the events were scheduled, but now have to adjust.
Emma Vandyke says her family visits Octoberfest every year.
Octoberfest and License to Cruise draw more than 300,000 people, like Van Dyke to Appleton.
“I mean I guess I kind of expected it since it was cancelled last year,” said Van Dyke.
But some College Avenue businesses, like Victoria’s Italian cuisine, had a different reaction to the news.
“A lot of disbelief, I think there were a lot of people looking forward to it, just to get back to a sense of normalcy again,” said Sandy Hurtado with Victoria’s.
Hurtado says the restaurant would like to have known sooner.
Although, they understand the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce’s decision to cancel the events.
“Kind of a double edged sword, an amazing event for the whole city, and a lot of people were looking forward to that. On the other side, as a restaurant right on the ave, we also dealt with a lot of the nuances of it so it’s really seeing it from both sides,” said Hurtado.
Hurtado says it’s hard to say if Victoria’s will lose revenue because of the weekend.
“It’s a different kind of day, but there are a lot of people who get exposure to our business who probably didn’t have it before,” said Hurtado.
Exposure is what DVSN 1, a sneaker, streetwear and vintage clothing store was looking forward to.
They are celebrating one year on College Avenue.
“I’m not too upset over it, but it’s unfortunate because I know it would bring in a lot of customers,” said Co-owners Matt Hunter and Quadry Smith say they were prepared for the weekend.
“We missed it last year and we ramped up on inventory. We got 85 pairs in last week expecting a lot of people to be coming in, a lot of foot traffic,” said Smith.
The owners say like many other businesses, they found out about the cancelation through Facebook.
Overall, Victoria’s and Division One say regardless of cancelled events, they hope people continue to show up and support local businesses.
Fox 11 reached out to the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce for comment but did not hear back.
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