Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Cash won't fall from sky when retail center opens on First & Main in Blacksburg
Blacksburg officials said the plan to drop $1 bills is too risky, so there will be a giveaway instead.
It won't fall out of a helicopter.
But organizers of the First & Main retail center grand opening in Blacksburg will still give away $10,000 in cash next week.
Representatives of Ohio-based MACS advertising firm had earlier planned to drop 10,000 $1 bills from a helicopter over the shopping center at 10 a.m. on Nov. 28 to celebrate the center's grand opening.
But the event was canceled Tuesday after Blacksburg officials raised safety concerns, Deputy Town Manager Steve Ross said.
Two Michigan children were injured in 2006 during a scramble for $1,000 dropped from a helicopter at a minor league baseball game.
According to a news release issued by MACS on Tuesday afternoon, the Blacksburg cash giveaway has been reorganized.
It will still begin at 10 a.m. on Black Friday, the traditional kickoff of the Christmas shopping season. But now organizers plan to give away $5 bills to the first 2,000 shoppers.
The serial numbers on some of those bills will be assigned to various prizes, including gift certificates and shopping sprees donated by First & Main businesses. Those who collect the money may then visit First & Main retailers to check if they've won.
Stores, including Coldwater Creek and Talbots, began opening in October at First & Main. Several others are under construction. About 40 restaurants and retailers are planned for the site, including a 186,000-square-foot big-box store.
Fairmount Properties of Ohio and Blacksburg Town Council have been fighting for months over the town's efforts to regulate the big-box, which is widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The Virginia Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the big-box case in January.
The council recently approved a Sonic drive-in restaurant, to be built in the retail center, that had first been disapproved because of worries about pedestrian safety and pollution from cars idling in the parking lot. The council reconsidered and approved a revised site plan after Fairmount and Sonic filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court alleging discrimination.
