An evening with new business

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

Downtown Superior was bustling with shoppers, onlookers and people out to check out some old and new businesses during the Evening Across the Bridge open house event Jan. 16.

From 4 to 7 p.m. Friday evening, businesses on the North side of the Clark Fork River in Superior opened their doors to the community with free food, samples and raffles to give locals an opportunity to see exactly what downtown Superior has to offer.

“I think the whole idea of the event is to encourage people to shop locally,” said Steve Cessna.

Cessna, who has owned and operated Cessna’s Hardware Store for the past 11 years, said that the event was fun and gave people a new perspective on what is happening in downtown Superior.

“It’s bringing out new faces which is always good in a small town like this,” Cessna said.

Cessna said that he had had around 25 people stroll through his store and expected more as the evening continued. He added that the cold weather likely kept some people indoors and said that he would be encouraging local business owners to do another open house during the summer months when he thinks it would be more effective.

The Montana Bar, Sense of Balance, Superior Color and Lumber, Cessna’s, The Body Whisperer, the Superior Soda Fountain, Iron Mountain Massage and Beauty Salon, Iron Mountain Graphics, Four Aces Bar, NAPA Auto Parts, Streamside Realty, WIT Construction and Ronni Haskins CPA all opened their doors to the public and offered refreshments and a look at what their businesses have to offer.

Buffy Kelly, daughter of John Kelly with Kelly Insurance, said that there had been quite a few people in and out of the Kelly’s insurance business as well as their soda fountain.

“It’s going really well so far,” Kelly said.

Kelly, who has been working with her father with their insurance business, said that the exposure the event is providing some of the local businesses should be great for the downtown area.

 “It’s the first time we’ve done something like this, so it’s nice to see a lot of people out here,” Kelly said.

Several businesses, including Iron Mountain Graphics, Sense of Balance and Streamside Realty, have recently moved into new location in downtown Superior and have used the event as an opportunity to show off their new location.

The Superior Soda Fountain has also expanded its menu and is serving sandwiches and food along with their previous offerings.

“It’s nice for people to have another option for somewhere to eat in Superior,” said Kelly.

Deb Davis-Quitt, a long-time Superior resident that came out to enjoy the festivities, said that she was enjoying the evening and perusing local businesses.

“I’m having a great time,” Davis-Quitt said.

Monica Ray of Streamside Realty said that she and her husband Kevin greeted 25 people that packed themselves into their new office early in the evening. She added that by the end of the night they would likely have had more than 100 people come visit their new River Street office.

“It’s been nice to see our past clients and our present clients. There have been all kinds of people through here,” Ray said.

Ray said that the event would hopefully encourage people to do any shopping that they can locally to support both local businesses and the local economy. She added that many people in Superior go to Missoula to do much of their shopping.

 “We’ve had a couple people that said they didn’t even know that many of these businesses were down here,” Ray said.