Few sights associated with the coronavirus pandemic have been as eerie to me as the sight of Main Street Bethlehem in the early afternoon during perfect spring weather one early April weekday at the height of the economic shutdown.
I remember Orr’s Department Store at Main and Broad from when I was a child. I lived in a second-floor apartment above a Main Street storefront as a young adult. I worked many years at The Express-Times bureau operating out of another Main Street storefront. I’ve celebrated friends’ weddings at Hotel Bethlehem. I’ve drank my fill of beer from Musikfest mugs while walking past the Sun Inn courtyard during festival time. I know this place, through its ups and downs over the last three decades, and what I saw on that April weekday about two months ago was shocking.
The usually bustling drag was virtually empty of cars and people. As I looked around, waiting for the tumbleweeds to blow through, I noticed something that tempered my shock.
Signs of hope remained in the periphery. Shops displayed merchandise in their windows. The restaurants, in pristine condition, looked like they had closed just hours earlier. Clean sidewalks and well-manicured landscaping drove home the point – this IS still a thriving downtown and it WILL be back. We want to help in that comeback in Bethlehem as well as Easton, Phillipsburg and everywhere else in the Lehigh Valley that businesses call home.
I’m proud to introduce #Rally4LehighValley, a new lehighvalleylive.com and The Express-Times initiative aimed at inspiring community support of our local businesses. We’re officially launching it today through the website rally4lehighvalley.com.
These are unprecedented times, especially for local businesses. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many of them into an untenable situation. They closed in late March to help in the effort to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Some have reopened in recent weeks and more will reopen next Friday when the Lehigh Valley is slated to drop down to the green phase, the least restrictive of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s three-phase plan for reopening the state’s economy. Restrictions are also gradually lifting across the Delaware River in New Jersey.
But it’s anyone’s guess as to when and if we return to pre-pandemic normalcy. The virus is far from being eradicated here, and the possibility for a second wave is still very real. The Easton Express, a precursor to lehighvalleylive.com and The Express-Times, began publishing in 1855. We’ve been partnering with local businesses for more than 150 years, and we want to be there to help them through this latest storm while also continuing to provide valuable local information to our neighbors.
#Rally4LehighValley accomplishes both goals. The initiative offers businesses a free, easy-to-navigate advertising platform to reach customers. The self-serve website allows them to post their business information such as logo, phone number, website link, link to purchase gift cards or order online as well as space to share business description, hours of operation, promotions and more. Charitable organizations can also participate and solicit donations or seek volunteers.
All of this will be supported by a significant marketing campaign designed to inspire the community to rally around local businesses.
For our neighbors, the hundreds of thousands of people who live in the Lehigh Valley, the initiative provides a free online marketplace to shop for products and services; make donations to vendors that are accepting them; and search vendors through a database that can be sorted by category, county, business name or special offerings like curbside pickup.
“Lehighvalleylive.com and The Express-Times recognize that main street is made up of small to medium size businesses who have seen the greatest impact from these events,” said Jim Wiegers, director of sales for lehighvalleylive.com and The Express-Times. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with them in effort to help them rebound and flourish. This new website is a tool, and a great first start to help local businesses tell the community that ‘they are back.’”
So let’s start this comeback together.
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June 21, 2020 at 06:00PM
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It’s comeback time for Lehigh Valley businesses. #Rally4LehighValley aims to help. - lehighvalleylive.com
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