Downtown Denville

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A Night to Remember: How Pink Witches Night Out Changed My Life Forever

By Chelsea Gonzalez, formerly Chelsea Ambrosi

In 2021, Downtown Denville BID nominated me as the Pink Witches Night Out Recipient, and it was a night that I will never forget. The support and love that I felt that night is unmatched, and I will forever be grateful to have grown up in such an incredible community. 

Since being the recipient, a lot has happened! Do we start with the most obvious (my last name)? In October 2022, Bryan and I had our dream wedding. This was a night that Bryan & I both were uncertain would happen. Do we postpone the wedding? Call it off completely? There were definitely a lot of uncertainties leading up to the big day, but after two years of wedding planning and one hell of a fight against breast cancer, I walked down the aisle and married my best friend.

Rewinding back to my journey after PWNO: I still had quite a few hurdles to overcome. I continued with chemotherapy, completing that leg in November 2021. A few weeks later, it was time to prep for and undergo my bilateral mastectomy. A couple days after, I was called with the amazing news that my final pathology report was in and it read that there was no evidence of disease in my tissue and lymph nodes – truly the best possible outcome! After lots of rest and recovery, it was time for the next leg of treatment (and the worst for me): radiation. Although this treatment was not kind to me, I pushed through it and on March 14, 2022 I rang the bell to signify my end of treatment.

Since treatment has ended, I have begun my ten-year journey with hormone therapy.  I have also undergone reconstruction surgery and am anticipating a few revision surgeries in the near future. Besides dealing with the crazy hot flashes from hormone therapy (and maybe moodiness from here or there), I am feeling amazing. Life is good, I am healthy, and the cancer is gone. 

Meg, Jenn, Downtown Denville BID, Saint Clare’s Health, DPW & Denville Beautification, the sponsors, the vendors, and the entire Denville community – thank you! Thank you for putting together such an amazing event year after year and showing up for all of the badass fighters and warriors out there. I cannot wait to see what is in store for this year’s Pink Witches Night Out!

Win a Downtown Denville Shopping Spree!

‘Tis the season for giving! This week Downtown Denville kicked off its three week long Shopping Spree contest! Head downtown and peek in some of the store and restaurant windows and you’ll find our Shopping Spree poster. Pull out your phone, open the camera and scan the QR code. Follow the prompts and fill out the info and you’ll be automatically be entered. That’s it!

Two $250 shopping sprees will be given away every week, and we’ll be doing this for three weeks … so six winners in all! Winners will get to choose up to three businesses in the downtown district to use their shopping spree dollars.

Good luck!

THANKS TO ALL THAT ENTERED AND CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS !

How to Support our Downtown Community

There is no question that the holidays are uncertain as COVID numbers continue to rise, which leaves our small business owners wondering how the next few months will play out for them. This is a crucial time, as they rely heavily on holiday shopping and entertaining to continue to remain profitable, and they need our support.

There are a number of different ways that you can help small businesses now, and in the coming months, and many don’t even require you to spend money. And if you ARE spending money, the more of it that you can spend locally, the more you can help our community to not only survive, but thrive. With plenty of free parking and a unique assortment of stores, restaurants, and professional services for you to take advantage of, set a goal to do as much as you can without ever leaving town.

  • Plan your holiday meals and have them catered by our local restaurants (or, if you’re doing the cooking, buy as many of the ingredients as you can at our stores like Dash of Thyme, Grassroots, Sergios, Denville Seafood and more)
  • Recommend our small businesses on social media when you see people asking for referrals, and include links to their websites or social media channels
  • Set aside one day a week for takeout from your favorite restaurant, or to discover a new one
  • Take advantage of the personal shopping parties and private after hours appointments that stores are offering (Write On Gifts, Sisters, and Surprises in Store are a few examples)
  • Write online reviews for your favorite businesses on Google, Yelp, and Facebook. This helps their social media pages grow, and helps others discover them
  • Focusing on health? Sign up for livestream options of your favorite fitness classes, or use this opportunity to try something new (Pure Barre and Prana Yoga are some places to start)
  • Follow your favorite small businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and like, comment and share their posts. Follow Downtown Denville on Facebook and Instagram too, and keep up with news, events, promos and more
  • If you have a discount card for a local shop, consider keeping it in your wallet and skipping the extra discount for now. Let the store have every penny
  • Give the gift of an experience and buy online classes from the businesses that are offering them (Art Classes with Mary Shadbolt, Uptown Art, Gateway to the Arts, Let’s Create, and Sweet Expressions by Geri are a few)
  • Take photos of our beautiful downtown and share on your social media (tag us on Facebook and Instagram and #DowntownDenville and we’ll share them as well)
  • Buy gift cards for holiday gift giving (but also, if you have old gift cards, hold off on using them now, if you can. The businesses need every extra penny in their till that they can gather)
  • Invite your friends to like our Facebook and Instagram pages – the more people we can reach, the more people we can share our downtown businesses with
  • See something you need online? Check our downtown businesses and see if they have it before ordering from a big online retailer. Many will do special orders if they don’t have it
  • Feeling uncomfortable being out and about? Call in your order to the local store or check their web site for online ordering. Many offer free local delivery and curbside pick up.

The Holidays in downtown Denville

While we have discussed a Denville After Dark event for the holidays, in view of the new recent restrictions and slow and steady incline of COVID cases, we will not be able to have one. That being said, it is crucial that everyone supports our local small business community as much as possible. Many stores are offering private after-hours shopping, local delivery, outside pick up, and more.

Downtown Denville will be sharing more ways you can support your favorite small business over the next few weeks, but we encourage you to keep as much of your spending in Denville as possible so we can ensure these business make it to 2021.

Indoor Dining Opens in Denville

What a long strange trip it has been. As New Jersey takes another step on their path to reopening, Denville restaurants ready themselves to offer indoor dining at 25% capacity. With restaurant margins being what they are, while this is a positive next step, it still continues to be challenging to run a restaurant in 2020.

We checked in with several of our downtown restaurants to get their thoughts on indoor dining. Jason Robbins, General Manager of Thatcher McGhee’s said, “These bizarre times are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. But these bizarre times have brought out the best in many, especially the town and people of Denville. When restaurants couldn’t open at all, people supported small business by ordering in, and when outside dining opened, we were allowed to extend our area and people came out in droves. Now with the excitement of indoor dining, we know they will once again show us their support by joining us to celebrate.” Thatcher McGhee’s, on Broadway, was recently voted #1 Irish restaurant in Morris County.

Carver’s on First Avenue is a popular breakfast and lunch destination. A small, quaint restaurant with a downhome vibe, the lockdown hurt their business substantially. “The pandemic has decimated our daily business to a mere 1/3 of our regular sales. Each sale during this time kept us holding on. The greatness of Denville as a community has kept baking and soup making at a high in spite of everything. We are elated indoor dining is resuming and hope to serve as many folks as possible! We will serving at a first come basis as we try and navigate through the changes and requirements. Thank you Denville for keeping Carver’s strong,” said the owner, Carver Parrish.

Jesus Gomez, owner of El Mejicano, is “excited to be able to see our friends back in our home even if it’s in a limited capacity!” He and his staff have been busy with take-out orders during the pandemic, and he is also co-owner of the new bakery that is opening up in a few weeks, Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery.

The Second Half on Main, a popular pub downtown, has been doing take out orders and serving in their beautiful outdoor dining area. Diane Gentile said, “We are beyond grateful to our awesome patrons and the Town of Denville for their unwavering support through these very difficult months. We cannot wait to welcome those that are ready back indoors.”

Whether a restaurant is doing indoor dining, outdoor dining, takeout or delivery, they all need your continued support to survive the current and ongoing challenges small business owners face in 2020. You can support them by eat locally, of course, leaving reviews on their Yelp! and Google pages, and following and sharing their social media accounts. A strong community is what allows small business owners to continue to deliver consistent and quality products and services. Our tag line, “where a community comes together,” has never been more true than this year.