Effort to Drive Winter Commerce in Sag Harbor

Sag Harbor Village businesses will launch Sag Saturdays, a monthly effort to attract commerce during the off-season by showcasing the village’s artistic and cultural heritage, on Dec. 13.

The program, organized by the mayor’s business advisory committee and supported by the Sag Harbor Partnership and the village’s chamber of commerce, will see a host of special events, activities, and promotions on the second Saturday of each month from December through June.

Kevin Menard of Dragon Hemp and Jesse Matsuoka, a co-owner of Sen and K Pasa restaurants, discussed the initiative with the village board last month, with Mr. Menard describing a “celebration of culture, cuisine, community, and sharing the heart of the village.”

The question of how to keep the village’s commercial district vital through the autumn, winter, and spring has been voiced by members of the advisory committee, he said, and “this is a concept that’s come together with many of the local businesses and stakeholders in the village, with a concept to bring interaction, community, and commerce to Sag Harbor based on what Sag Harbor is known for.”

Galleries will be open into the evening and businesses have been encouraged to offer “activations” such as promotions, featured menus, book readings, art installations, and live music. Mr. Menard said last week that “so far, we are right around 25 [businesses] that want to be participating, probably 30 in the next few days.”

“As the business community has come together and voiced how things might get a little tight and difficult in the off-season, wouldn’t it be nice if we could accumulate our marketing efforts and branch out to work together and promote a single day, once a month,” Mr. Matsuoka asked the board, “by simply offering what you already offer? It doesn’t have to be something too special — or it could be.”

They encouraged businesses to collaborate, citing as examples brick-and-mortar businesses featuring wares of residents who do not have a physical retail presence, or a bookstore holding a reading and signing at a gallery or restaurant. “There’s so many different ideas that we’ve been coming up with and allowing people to build on,” Mr. Matsuoka said, “that we really feel this can become something fantastic for the community.”

“The great thing is you can participate on whatever level you want,” Mr. Menard told The Star. “You can have an activation featuring an artist, or a culinary event, or just stuff on sale. We want to make this as easy as possible. There is no heavy upfront cost to do this. What’s been exciting is, a few of us got together and started talking about the idea, built on each other’s ideas, and it expanded and became Sag Saturdays. We want to do something that has continuity.”

Two authors are slated to give readings at Dragon Hemp. “We’re going to use them to promote Sag Saturdays on their own Instagram,” Mr. Menard said. In a “buddy system” for “stores that might need help with their Instagram or thinking out of the box, we’re going to have a list of activations they could possibly do and help them to get there,” he told the board.

Some business owners are better at promotion via social media than others, he said more recently, “however, ones that might feel intimidated or don’t know how, we’re here to help them. A rising tide lifts all boats.”

The group is working with Wonder Shuffle, a travel and lifestyle platform that helps people discover events and activities, and a website, sagsaturdays.org, is now live and features a map and form to participate and obtain additional information. Wonder Shuffle, Mr. Menard said, will create individual “cards” for participating businesses, and a directory featuring all the programming offered during Sag Saturdays. “It’s great, an easy way for people to see all the activations in one place.”

Each Sag Saturday will have a theme, with Harbor Night Lights falling on Dec. 13, which will coincide with Santa’s 1 p.m. arrival by fire truck at the windmill at Long Wharf.

New Year Art happens in January, followed by Winter Culture Crawl in February, Spring Preview in March, Authors and Artists in April, Music and Tastings in May, and Season Finale in June.

“You certainly have my support,” Mayor Thomas Gardella told Mr. Menard and Mr. Matsuoka. “I think this is great and it’s part of what we discussed, which is connecting the businesses on Main Street to the community.”

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