Local marketing update:
USS Stennis sailors take shore leave in Port Townsend; numbers downtown expected to rise
“The chamber map centered on downtown but also provided information about uptown and Sims Way, which includes craft beer servers Port Townsend Brewing and the Pourhouse.”
“No one from the Navy showed up at either location Monday, according to employees.”
“It was slower than usual for a Monday night,” said a Pourhouse bartender who identified herself as Sarah P.
“I think a lot of people stayed home because they expected there would be a lot of sailors here.”
300 sailors in town Monday, many more expected in following days
“I can’t afford to do that again because that was a total loss,” Silverwater Cafe co-owner Alison Hero said Tuesday after not a single sailor came in Monday evening. “We had made a ton of extra food. We were staffed up as if it were going to be a Wooden Boat Festival weekend. I think our normal clientele stayed home because they thought there would be 1,000 sailors downtown.”
“It’s usually a lot busier,” Pourhouse bartender Sarah P. said at about 8 p.m. Monday, looking around at a mostly empty house. “I guess people got scared off.”
It might be fair to say that Port Townsend shopkeepers were led to believe that large crowds of sailors were on the way. The USS Stennis is home ported in Bremerton- a reasonable driving distance from Port Townsend. If the town had a good reputation as a nightlife destination for young sailors to get away to- the word could have already been spread about the ship.
Jan 15th update: Things are looking up.
Mixed messages:
Port Townsend merchants hopes visiting aircraft carrier will provide winter ka-ching!
Thank you, Navy, for the sound of freedom
LETTER: The Navy is out of control
Navy plans are not in sync with values of Puget Sound region
EDITORIAL: We hear the Navy. Does the Navy hear us?
Welcome visitors-
Rent yourself a State Parks buoy at Fort Worden
Voted best consumer value in weekend recreation.
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