Supporters say tragedy doesn't define downtown

Downtown business owners hope a street festival this weekend will show college students and local families that Sunday’s homicide on Main Street does not define their business district.

The second Get!Downtown festival will bring dancers, musicians, artists and more than 100 vendors to Main Street on Friday night, encompassing the same block where George Leroy Baker III, of Tempe, Ariz., was found beaten and unconscious Sunday night.

Baker died Monday, and on Tuesday three male teenagers were arrested and charged with murder.

Business owners and others who planned this weekend’s festival called the crime an unusual, random event in an area that normally is very safe. They said it would not change the plans of Get!Downtown.

“This incident could have happened anywhere,” said Chris McCune, events manager for the downtown revitalization agency Lynch’s Landing. “You can’t just stop because something tragic happens, and you can’t live in fear.”

The inaugural Get!Downtown in 2009 had about 7,000 people attend, and there were no problems with fighting, theft or other crimes, McCune said. The Friday Cheers concert series has a similar record, he said. “The events downtown are very safe.”

Leecy Fink, owner of the Main Street bridal store Celebration, called Sunday’s beating “a crime of opportunity.”

“I don’t think this had anything to do with downtown,” she said.

 Police department statistics show that there has been an increase in reports of violent crimes downtown, from Clay Street to Jefferson Street — 31 in 2008, 47 in 2009 and 34 from January through August this year.

But Capt. Todd Swisher of the Lynchburg Police Department said most of those crimes take place outside the central business district from Church Street to Jefferson Street, where most shops and restaurants are located. That area has a much lower crime rate, he said.

Swisher said he considers the downtown business district to be safe. “What happened in the homicide Sunday night was very tragic and was an unusual circumstance in that area,” he said.

Main Street will be closed for the Get!Downtown festival between 13th Street and Eighth Street at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The festival will run from 6 to 9 p.m. McCune said nine police officers will be on duty.

McCune said all 85 vendors from at last year’s Get!Downtown event are returning, and 20 additional vendors have signed up this year.

Deborah Keeling said she will be a vendor again this year because last year’s event proved to be effective marketing for her store, Accent Flags & Gifts. Many people found out about the shop during the Friday night festival, only to return Saturday to make a purchase, she said.

“I’ve never seen such response from people walking the streets of downtown,” said Keeling, who has run her store for 21 years.

Keeling said that the festival would be a good opportunity to show people what downtown really is like, including its safety.

Scott Cardwell said that her business, Bull Branch restaurant, is only open at night and in nine years of operating, it has had no criminal incidents.

“The level of outrage and the shock by the downtown community are the greatest testament to how unprecedented this and unbelievable this (crime) is downtown, because downtown is simply, factually, a safe place,” she said.

Cardwell said that the downtown community is sorry for Baker’s family, which was in Lynchburg celebrating Baker’s granddaughter’s wedding.

“My hope is that those people who value a thriving downtown will come back in force and solidarity to show that we will not be intimidated.”