These weekends brought the most foot traffic to downtown Sioux Falls in 2019

Downtown Sioux Falls continues to add living spaces, attractions like the Levitt at the Falls music venue, and it will soon be home to a permanent dog park.

These amenities don't come by accident, with Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc. (DTSF) and the city of Sioux Falls working hand in hand to transform the city's core into a vibrant place where people want to live, work and play.

For years downtown boosters have been hyping the growth and evolution of the neighborhood with anecdotes about how busy the sidewalks get with foot traffic and the frequency in which events take place. The increasing bustle of downtown is touted to potential tenants looking to move stores to Phillips or Main Avenues.

But now, there's data to back it up.

For the last 17 months, DTSF has used infrared technology to collect data on the number of people walking downtown streets. 

DTSF President Joe Batcheller said the data helps his organization show prospective businesses how many people might pass by their locations should they choose to open up shop downtown. It also helps DTSF gauge the success of events it puts on, like First Friday block parties, parades that run downtown and special holiday events.

"It's good information for our business members to know about so if they want to adjust their store hours, they can make a decision based on information rather than on a whim," he said. "The other way in which we use the data is that we like to know what sort of impact we have with our various events and promotions."

With a full cycle of data now in the books, here's a look at the top five busiest weekends of the year downtown so far in 2019.

March 16: St. Patrick's Day Parade

The most-attended annual parade in the city, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, drew nearly 13,000 people to downtown, more than 8,000 of which spent at least a portion of the day walking along Phillips Avenue.

"We saw that the St. Patrick's Day parade draws a little bit bigger crowd than the Parade of Lights because the weather is usually a little bit better," Batcheller said.

April 20: Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt

Spring's arrival finally showed up this weekend when the sun shined and temperatures reached 78 degrees. That drew thousands out for the annual Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt. In all, more than 7,000 were tracked walking downtown.

May 4: Eastbank Block Party, ScultpureWalk premier

Workers with the Sioux Falls SculptureWalk spent the morning of May 4 installing this year's crop of sculptures along downtown streets. Couple that with the Eastbank Block Party and a 60 degree day, that was enough to generate nearly 8,000 clicks on all four of DTSF's four pedestrian counters downtown.

June 15: Pride Parade and Levitt Concert

Sioux Falls Pride has been active in the city for years, but for the first time ever, the organization that promotes advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights held a parade downtown to celebrate the cause. 

Making downtown all the more active was the second-ever concert at the Levitt Shell at the Falls, the outdoor music venue near Sixth Street and Phillips Avenue. In all, about 8,000 pedestrians were counted downtown that day.

Aug. 17: Riverfest 

The annual Riverfest event offers activities for all ages like music, food trucks, art vendors and fireworks. And according to DTSF's counts, more than 10,000 were out and about throughout what was a beautiful day, with temperatures peaking at 80 degrees. A late night storm, though, might have caused a few folks to go home early as the Riverfest concert was cut short.