{"id":123950,"date":"2023-10-19T21:20:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T01:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=123950"},"modified":"2023-10-19T21:25:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T01:25:26","slug":"how-cookies-cocktails-chocolate-and-chili-are-driving-economic-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=123950","title":{"rendered":"How cookies, cocktails, chocolate, and chili are driving economic development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bethlehem\u2019s passport-based trail events draw much-needed traffic for local business owners\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Bethlehem, PA (October 18, 2023) – Trails are trending in Bethlehem. Events in which attendees walk from business to business sampling food or beverages are becoming increasingly popular with the public and with business owners. Tammy Wendling Senior Vice President of Bethlehem Initiatives for the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce said, \u201cThe city\u2019s walkable downtown areas combined with their many boutique shops and family-owned restaurants provide the perfect setting for economic development projects that leverage foot traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trail attendees purchase event passports online. They show those passports at downtown businesses to pick up their cocktails, beer, chili, or whatever else a trail might feature for that event. \u201cIt\u2019s such a fun way to get people into shops and restaurants that they may never have visited before,\u201d said Brittney Ciardi, Assistant Vice President of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce. \u201cThey often do some shopping along the way and many become repeat customers. So, the benefits extend far past the day of an event.\u201d<\/p>\n

The events also boost community spirit and often spark friendly rivalries between business owners. During the Soup Trail, creative local chefs vie for the Golden Spoon award. After the Chili Trail, everyone waits to see who earned a coveted glass chili pepper trophy. \u201cIt\u2019s all in good fun. We know that when trail events bring lots of business to town, every local business is a winner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upcoming trail events in Bethlehem
\nOctober 21 | Chili Trail during Chili Fest |\u00a0<\/strong>Event Link\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

October 28 | Spooky Chocolate Trail |\u00a0<\/strong>Event Link<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 11 & 18 | Historic Bethlehem Holiday Cocktail Trails |\u00a0<\/strong>Event Link<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

December 9 & December 23 | SouthSide Bethlehem Naughty or Nice Cocktails and Cookies Crawl |\u00a0<\/strong>Event Link<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nLaurie Monteforte
\nStrong Mountain Media, Inc.
\nhttps:\/\/strongmountainmedia.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bethlehem\u2019s passport-based trail events draw much-needed traffic for local business owners\u00a0 Bethlehem, PA (October 18, 2023) – Trails are trending in Bethlehem. Events in which attendees walk from business to … Continue reading How cookies, cocktails, chocolate, and chili are driving economic development<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/trails.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/123982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}