By Natalie Morales
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - Stormy weather dampened the first of this summer's downtown Second Saturday Sidewalk Sales last weekend .

"The weather was the pits," said Bev Holiday, owner of Kentucky Haus Craft Gallery, 342 Monmouth St. .

Try, try again.

The Newport Business Association has more sidewalk sales lined up for July and August . The goal: Entice more people to Newport's historic downtown.

The association is banking on word of mouth to attract shoppers to the events, said Joy Galbraith, the business association's vice chairwoman and owner of the Costume Gallery, 638 Monmouth St., and the Monmouth Theatre, 636 Monmouth St.

The sidewalk sales showcase the revitalization of downtown, including the Monmouth Streetscape project, she said.

"We've been calling it 'Be a tourist in your own back yard,'" Holiday said.

Newport's historic downtown is the area between Third and 11th streets and York and Washington streets. This part of the city has been involved in a project to update the faÁades of the buildings and the streets, which included putting utilities underground, laying new sidewalks and adding benches and banners, said Galbraith.

"What we're trying to do is attract people to our business district because we have such an eclectic blend of businesses," she said.

Those who browse the shops' offerings will find a variety of merchandise from bicycles to menswear, fish tanks to theater costumes.

Last weekend's rain kept some business owners, such as Holiday, from hitting the sidewalks.

But other shops, such as Indoor Outdoor Aquatics at 635 Monmouth St., and the Costume Gallery still made their way outside during parts of the day.

Don Drewry of Highland Heights is a Saturday regular at the downtown Newport shops. In fact, he said, looking in the shops is a recreational activity for him several days each week.

"For a lot of people who go downtown, it's kind of just having fun," Drewry said. "You just go and see what you can find."

Drewry hit the sidewalk sales last weekend, and he has an idea for those who run it: "If it were more publicized, there'd be more people."

Galbraith said the association hopes that as word of the sidewalk sales spreads,customers will gain more interest.

"If they come for one shop, hopefully they'll stroll down and look at another bargain down the street," she said.

E-mail nmorales@enquirer.com