Programs & Projects
Downtown—It’s All Happening Here
NDD Downtown Market
The 2022 season marked the 20th year of the NDD Downtown Market, held every Thursday from June through October. This year’s market included a farm stand hosted by Urban Agriculture Cooperative, multiple vendors, food trucks, live music, fitness activations and community-based organization booths. The market also featured bistro seating for those enjoying a meal or for marketgoers enjoying the live music and socializing within the community. To encourage additional support of our local vendors, we brought back our frequent shopper punch cards, where shoppers received a punch for every $5 purchase they made. Once they received five punches, they were able to redeem their card for an NDD prize. Unique to this year’s market was our partnership with Bird, the electric scooter company. Bird hosted two live scooter demonstrations and gave away Bird helmets and merchandise to marketgoers.
2022 Vendors
Urban Agriculture Cooperative
BelleJohns’ Soul Food
DIY Kitchen Diaries Cooking Classes
Gaucho Burger
Good Morning Newark (homemade favorites)
Gramps Kitchen
Grandma Emma’s
Lady G Empanadas
Lulu’s Artisanal Lemonade
Shi’s Cakes & Things
The Original Golden Brown
Fast Track Fashions (fashions and handbags)
Karima’s Paparazzi Jewelry
Some Sisters
Bea & Ket Brand
Bread Lock Botanicals
Charlene House of Oils and Body Essentials
Chu Homemade Blessings
Community Food Bank of NJ
I’m So Yoga
LivFit
Love Yourself All Natural by Dominican Formula
Top Shelf Plus/Ashea Natural Body Products
Second Annual NDD Fall Festival
The 2022 Second Annual NDD Fall Festival was held in Military Park, bringing out people of all ages, from families with small children to teenagers and senior citizens. Free attractions included pony rides, a petting zoo, a pumpkin patch with tables for decorating, face-painting, a Halloween costume contest, a photo booth, games, live music, food, and more! The NDD Fall Festival is a great day for making lasting memories and community fun for everyone.
NDD Foto Challenge
Over the course of the year, the NDD social media ran the NDD Foto Challenge in collaboration with local photographer Chrystofer Davis. The NDD Foto Challenge is a current year-long photography challenge which encourages the community to take images of monthly themed topics for a chance to win an NDD swag bag.
NDD Fitness Club
After a two year break, we brought back the NDD Fitness Club. During lunch on Tuesday–Thursdays, community members gather to participate in different fitness activations. These activities include light walking, calisthenics, aerobics, and flexibility stretching. Led by local instructor Tia Gist, members of the fitness club enjoyed 45 minutes of fun and healthy activity.
9th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting
This year we celebrated our 9th Annual NDD Holiday Tree Lighting, held at Mulberry Commons in collaboration with Newark’s Winter Village. There was music, food, games, free hot cocoa, and free photos with Santa!
Halsey Festival
The NDD partnered with the Halsey Festival for their annual community event. The festival closes down Halsey Street from Central to Linden, featuring local vendors, entertainment, arts and crafts, games, food, and much more. The NDD promoted the event through an enhanced social media campaign and hosted three tables—and even brought the NDD Red Urban Bears as special guests! During Halsey Fest, the NDD held a live painting exhibit. In collaboration with Artfront Gallery, two of our community parklets were painted with designs voted on by the local community. In addition to the parklets, festival-goers were able to paint on their own canvases and keep them as a memento of the event. The NDD Ambassadors also provided in-kind services in production and clean-up services.
VMAs
This year the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) were held at the Prudential Center on August 28th. The NDD supplied a local business dictionary that was hosted on the NDD’s website and accessible via QR codes on local business window clings. For additional community support, the NDD made door-to-door visits to local businesses and promoted the event heavily on all social media platforms. The NDD also provided extended pan and broom services and enhanced horticulture services.
Urban Planning
Activations & Streetscape Improvement Projects
NDD Festival Lighting Project: Phase 1
The NDD implemented Phase 1 of the NDD Festival Lighting project, hanging beautiful decorative string lights on Treat Place. In an effort to promote walkability and vibrancy on a few Downtown streets, the NDD decided to place string lights on strategic street segments. Beautifying urban streets through lighting helps to promote environmental quality in multiple areas, including an increase in safety and security, as well as the creation of a unique identity and personality. Additionally, adding festival lights boosts the economic vitality of the street, can create a 24-hour city, and provides increased visibility for retail businesses.
During the planning phase, the NDD Team engaged each property owner along Treat Place to secure approval and building access. Additionally, NDD engineers consulted with the City Department of Engineering and Public Services to obtain the required permits for the installation. The Festival Lights on Treat Place were officially installed in mid-August. The installation process was also facilitated with the help of the City of Newark’s Division of Cultural Arts and Affairs, which provided in-kind security services. The catenary lights are operating daily from dusk to 10:00 PM.
The NDD is considering expanding the Festival Lighting program through other streets like Halsey Street. This is something we look forward to in 2023.
2022 NDD Parklet Program
The NDD welcomed the Fifth Edition of the Parklet Program during the Summer of 2022. This year the NDD installed a total of eight parklets (four wooden and four pop-up parklets) to support downtown businesses and add more public seating in Downtown Newark. To make the parklet program unique this year, the NDD decided to bring mural art to the wooden structures. The NDD partnered with ArtFront Galleries to bring art to these temporary spaces. To involve the community in the selection of art, people were able to vote on their favorite design themes using a voting system implemented via all NDD social media platforms.
It took the NDD and the ArtFront Team four months to develop the artwork, which focused on celebrating themes centered around musical influences, urban portraits, and LGBTQ flags. The NDD and ArtFront Galleries unveiled the mural art on the parklets at the 2022 Halsey Festival. Additionally, the NDD hosted canvas centers next to each parklet station to allow the Festival attendees to participate in the painting activities as a way to strengthen this sense of community.
NDD Wayfinding Signage Projects
At the beginning of 2022, the NDD embarked on a new streetscape design project which aims to improve the Downtown Pedestrian Wayfinding System. In January, the NDD released an RFP looking for a design firm to develop a wayfinding system proposal for the City of Newark to implement. The organization commissioned a graphic design firm, Tangram Design, and the project commenced with a kick-off meeting between Downtown Primary Stakeholders and the Wayfinding Committee members. The stakeholder engagement was an opportunity to collect input on the District’s identity, desires, and expectations for the signage system.
The design consultants released an Assessment Report, compiling all the input received at the stakeholder engagement meeting and a detailed analysis of the present signage system. Additionally, the report included recommendations to engage other district stakeholders in the process to make it more inclusive and uniform. For instance, the City of Newark recently proposed a new Arts & Education District, which overlaps with the Newark Downtown District Boundary. The NDD Team and the consultants at Tangram plan to include the newly proposed District in the wayfinding design system.