By By BEN RAYMOND LODE / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Three people who purchased space in Saturday's Great Niles Garage Barrage Sale have already reserved the same space in the city's next garage sale.
That's a good sign Saturday's event in downtown Niles went over well with the community.
Lisa Croteau, Downtown Development Authority director, is happy there was such a big turnout Saturday.
And, she said the large turnout is a good sign for the future of downtown Niles.
She estimates several hundreds of people visited the downtown area.
Croteau said close to 50 vendors had stalls in downtown Saturday.
She said some people were just selling their own items, while civic organizations sold raffle tickets and used the Garage Barrage to raise funds.
The paintings auctioned off Saturday brought in more than a thousand dollars, Croteau said.
The paintings were donated to the Main Street Promotions Committee by David French, owner of 210 E. Main St., which at one time housed the former Old Kent Bank, where the paintings once hung.
Although Croteau was pleased about the big turnout, it surprised her, as well.
Saturday's success, however, could be repeated if the Main Street Promotions Committee decides to have another Garage Barrage this fall.
Croteau said they are planning to send out surveys to downtown merchants, people who visited downtown and street vendors who took part in the event.
Once all that information is gathered, the committee will see what those people think about the event and whether it would be worthwhile to have another garage barrage this fall, she said.