Jim Downs refers to River Street as his “canvas.”
The Savannah Waterfront Association’s new executive director is more Picasso or Jackson Pollock than Bob Ross, however.
“I’m going to push the envelope,” he said.
Downs outlined his vision for the riverfront’s future as a special events and entertainment venue Wednesday during the Downtown Business Association’s monthly luncheon. A self-described “why guy,” Downs told the business leaders his focus is on “adding value” to the riverfront.
The Savannah Waterfront Association has been guilty of “doing the same festival over and over, just changing the title and the T-Shirt,” Downs said.
“We had the same vendors, the same entertainment,” Downs said. “It was a serious issue.”
His approach is to introduce new events, such as last weekend’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating contest qualifier, and reinvent others such as the monthly First Friday on the River festivals.
Downs also shared plans for a seafood festival, to be held on the first weekend of May; a blues, jazz and barbecue event in June; and Halloween and New Year’s Eve celebrations later in the year.
Ruel Joyner, president of the Downtown Business Association, praised Downs for his leadership.
“Savannah is a race car. We’ve just needed the fuel for that race car,” Joyner said. “Events on River Street make all of downtown better. It gets people jazzed about downtown.”
Downs’ immediate target audience is locals. River Street festivals should be community events first, he said, and success in attracting Savannahians to the waterfront will translate to River Street becoming an even bigger draw for out-of-town visitors.
“If you are coming in here as a tourist and you know somebody locally, you are going to reach out to them,” Downs said. “We want to be top of mind.”
Downs, who heads a four-person staff, took over as the riverfront’s leader in January. He previously worked for cable television network ESPN, where he helped develop the X Games concept and led the sports media giant’s foray into fishing and outdoors programming. He left ESPN in 2007 to work as an independent contractor specializing in events management.
SAVANNAH WATERFRONT ASSOCIATION
Go to riverstreetsavannah.com for more on upcoming events along Savannah’s riverfront.
