A seemingly innocuous event, the Downtown Westfield 5K, actually had many merchants grumbling after the 2500 runners gathered left town in their shorts and sneakers.
While no store owners contacted by Patch agreed to go on record, they indicated that they were generally unhappy with the lost business from closed streets, some even arguing that the race should have been moved to a less central location. Other 5K's in Westfield, including the Turkey Trot and the Roosevelt Intermediate School race are not held in the downtown business district.
Yet Sherry Cronin, the executive director of the Downtown Westfield Corporation and the main architect of this year's race, said she has heard all these complaints before.
"I can't say it isn't helpful to the people where we shut the streets down," Cronin said. "That certainly has a negative impact on the business in that area."
But Cronin stressed that the DWC did everything possible to minimize lost revenue and disruption to town life, including handing out fliers to all the businesses and houses on the course and making special accommodations for merchants and residents. Cronin also said that the race was in no way especially lucrative.
"It's not about making money for the DWC," Cronin said. "In fact, we hardly ever make money. It takes $60,000 to $70,000 to run this race. We've been told that it's actually a very premium event that is actually below market."
Cronin estimated that the profit would not exceed $5,000 and that all proceeds from the race would be earmarked for improvements to the downtown. The real purpose of the race, Cronin said, was to get exposure for Westfield's downtown and residential areas.
But one business reported that they were pleased with the pizza race - the Westfield Running Company. One of their employees, Martin Sweeney, said that revenue for that day almost doubled.
