Summer is one of the best opportunities to increase foot traffic downtown — but it doesn't happen on its own. The districts that get the most out of their peak season give visitors a reason to stay longer, come back, and tell their friends. Whether you're planning a passport challenge, a scavenger hunt, or a simple SMS campaign, here are five ways to make this summer count.

1. Run a Passport Challenge

A downtown passport challenge is one of the highest-engagement things you can do as a Main Street organization, and it doesn't require a big prize or a big team.

The idea is simple: visitors check in at participating businesses, collect stamps, and unlock a reward when they've visited a certain number of spots. It turns a normal afternoon of shopping into a game and keeps people moving through your district instead of stopping at one place and leaving.

In Proxi, you can build and run a Passport Challenge directly in your platform. No app download required. Visitors check in from their phones, and you track engagement in real time.

A few ideas to get you started:

• Summer Sips: Visit 5 local coffee shops, bars, or juice spots and earn a district gift card.
• Shop Local Challenge: Check in at 6 member businesses across different categories (boutique, bookshop, restaurant, etc.) for a chance to win a curated prize basket.
• Kids' Explorer Pass: Families visit the toy store, ice cream shop, and bookshop for a fun stamp-and-prize experience that keeps kids engaged and parents shopping longer.

2. Set Up a Scavenger Hunt

A downtown scavenger hunt is a great fit for families and groups. They're easy to theme around your season and they create shareable moments that extend your reach on social media.

The best part: once you build one, you can reuse it. Update a few clues and run the same format next summer.

Some angles that work well:

• Hidden object hunt: Place a small branded decal (a sunflower, a star, a rubber duck) in 6 storefronts. Visitors find them all and show their photo for a prize.
• Historic district tour: Send visitors on a self-guided walk to 5 landmarks with a fun fact at each stop. Great for heritage districts.
• Hashtag hunt: Give visitors a photo checklist. Post all 5 photos with your district hashtag to enter a giveaway. Free marketing built in.

3. Send a Summer Welcome SMS to Your List

If someone signed up for your newsletter or attended one of your events, they're already interested. A short, friendly text message at the start of summer with a link to your district map is more effective than most people expect.

Proxi lets you send email and SMS directly from your platform, so you're not managing a separate tool for each channel.

A few messages worth sending:

• Season kickoff: "Summer in [District] starts now. Here's your guide to everything happening: [map link]"
• Challenge launch: "Our Summer Passport Challenge is live! Visit 5 spots, win a prize. Start here: [link]"
• Event reminder: "This Saturday: live music, local vendors, and a lot of good food. See you there: [event link]"

4. Keep Your Event Calendar Current

This sounds obvious, but a lot of foot traffic is lost to outdated information. If someone searches for events in your district and finds a listing from three months ago, they bounce.

Use Proxi's crowdsouraceable community calendar tool to keep everything current. And when people buy tickets through your organization, you capture their contact info for future campaigns.

Events worth listing even if they're free or recurring:

• Weekly farmers markets or outdoor vendor markets
• Concert series, outdoor movie nights, or gallery walks
• Business-hosted events like tastings, trunk shows, or demo days

5. Ask Businesses to Do One Thing

Don't try to get everyone doing everything. Pick one summer activation and ask businesses to participate in that one thing. A focused activation with 15 participants beats a scattered one with 40 half-committed ones.

Brief your businesses on what's happening, give them a simple one-pager, and make sure they know how to direct visitors who ask.

Keep it simple for them:

• Put up a window cling or printed poster for the Passport Challenge so visitors know to check in there.
• Post once a week on social using the district's official hashtag during the campaign window.
• Offer a small "district perk" (10% off, a free sample, a punch card) to anyone who shows their Passport stamp at the door.

Summer is short. A little structure goes a long way.