Chelan group develops regional model to keep downtown running during wildfires

WENATCHEE — If wildfire smoke drives visitors indoors this summer, Chelan’s downtown businesses may follow them there.

A proposal from the Historic Downtown Chelan Association would transform indoor space into a temporary “pop-up mall,” allowing shops to relocate together during smoke events rather than lose business entirely.

The concept was part of a broader five-part strategy presented to the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority during a meeting April 14 at the Confluence Technology Center in Olds Station. That strategy is aimed at helping small businesses adapt to wildfire disruption while building a more resilient, year-round economy. While developed in Chelan, the approach is designed with other small tourism-driven communities in mind.

“We have this new community center. We have some big space. People don’t want to be outside walking through downtown,” said Aimee Sheridan, executive director of the Historic Downtown Chelan Association. “Can we activate quickly with the right triggers an indoor mall space that people can come to, activate live music, activate food, and get people indoors and have our downtown business district staffing their pop-up store inside this indoor space?”

The concept is meant to keep the energy of downtown intact, even when conditions push activity indoors.

The idea comes after a difficult stretch for Chelan businesses, which rely heavily on summer tourism, and reflects challenges faced by communities across the region when wildfire smoke keeps visitors away.

In response, the association has been working with partners including the Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce, the City of Chelan and the Lake Chelan Wine Alliance to develop a coordinated approach ahead of future wildfire seasons.

“So we’re really being integrated in a partnership,” Sheridan said. “So this is a multi-pronged approach, but this is something that we’ve talked to the chamber about really spearheading for this effort.”

The plan includes five tracks designed to meet businesses at different levels of readiness. Those range from providing basic marketing tools and digital support, to launching a valley-wide “Love Where You Live” campaign, to coordinating unified messaging during emergencies.

The pop-up mall concept is one of the more visible pieces, but it is paired with more practical efforts such as helping businesses maintain accurate online information and offering simple e-commerce options like local pickup.

Rather than expecting small businesses to build complex online storefronts, the focus is on giving them just enough infrastructure to stay connected to customers when normal operations are disrupted.

Sheridan said the goal is not only to support Chelan, but to create a model other communities can use.

“This is a scalable, shareable tool that we intend to share with all of our other Main Street programs, with our Wine Alliance, anyone else here in the community that would want this workbook on how to do all five of these tracks,” she said. “We would hand everything over, how to do the messaging, how to do the marketing.”

She added that a coordinated regional approach could strengthen the entire valley.

“We think that sharing this… makes all of us better,” Sheridan said. “So unified activation across the Chelan Valley, but even within the whole region.”

The approach allows businesses to participate at whatever level they are ready for, rather than requiring a one-size-fits-all solution.

“And then allowing the participants to plug in at whatever level that they felt was at their level,” Sheridan said.

For Chelan’s downtown core, the goal is simple: be ready before the next disruption arrives, and build a model that can hold up wherever those same challenges appear.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media