MANSFIELD — Nichole Hamilton looked around her busy pizza shoppe on Sunday afternoon and smiled.
The “Orange Cone Fest” was having its desired impact, bringing in residents for live music, karaoke and free food from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the “mini Brickyard” off Walnut Street.
“Lots of people are stumbling upon us on accident, but they’re enjoying all of this,” the owner of Two Cousins Pizza Co. on Main Street said.
“Lots of people are coming down just for this,” she said.
Hamilton said the event also reminded local residents that businesses like Two Cousins, Relax It’s Just Coffee/Blackbird Bakery and 3rd Cup Tea are open on Sundays.
“It doesn’t have to be just for the festival. All these businesses involved are open on Sundays anyway, so it’s worth a couple extra steps,” she said.
She looked out the front window of her store at the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project, which began in March and is expected to continue until October 2026.
“The orange snow fence (along Main Street) is a little deceiving. … It’s not as intimidating as it may look from your car,” Hamilton said.
“It’s so much fun, so many fun activities,” Hamilton said. “We are seeing lots of people we haven’t seen before.”
Braxton Daniels, owner of 3rd Cup Tea next door, echoed Hamilton.
“I think almost all our customers are new today. I don’t think we have seen many repeats. We have a few regulars that we see, but most people just kind of stumbled upon us, I think,” Daniels said.
The promotion sponsored by Cleveland Financial Group, DLX, Gravity Ohio, Bite Club and Richland Carrousel Park, offered free pizza, carousel sides, coffee, tea and even axe throwing at Axe Social Lounge.
“That four-letter word (free) really brought people out, which is good. The best marketing is free marketing. If you can get the word out to people and let them know that they can try something without using their own money, that I think they’d be more willing to come out,” Daniels said.
“We have seen a lot of new people. I think they picked a good day for it,” he said.
Live music included the Jimi Vincent Band and CONNE, as well as Karaoke with Sam.
(Photos taken Sunday afternoon at the Orange Cone Fest in the “mini-Brickyard” along Walnut Street in downtown Mansfield. The story continues below the photos.)
Daniels admitted the $19.3 million Main Street project has presented challenges to businesses along the normally busy corridor.
“I would say we can’t operate how we normally would operate because we’re dealing with different circumstances, but it’s definitely keeping us on our Ps and Qs,” he said.
“We have gotten a little bit more creative on how to get people to come downtown and being informative about the construction. Everyone in the community knows what we’re dealing with and they’ve been rallying behind us and being supportive,” Daniels said.
He said the business owners can see the progress being made and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“We got crosswalks now. We got new sidewalks now. The road is shaped differently. Workers are bringing in different things. There are new (construction) machines out there for different purposes.
“I think we’re now able to see and and visualize what we’re actually getting. We can see the fruits of the labor kind of shaping up now,” Daniels said.
Dan Lew, owner of DLX on Main Street at the square, was one of the primary event organizers.
“I cancelled all of my events on the square this year, so I was trying to figure out what we could do,” he said.
“The merchants down here have been struggling a little bit with the construction. I figured, ‘Let’s do the Orange Cone Fest down here,’ and help them out and help drive a little traffic downtown on a Sunday,” Lew said.
The free giveaways were a big draw, he said.
Lew said the Main Street improvement project will be a great thing when it’s complete.
“The momentum we will have once it’s completed … we just need to keep these local businesses higher in the consciousness of people to help keep them going until it’s done,” he said.
Paul Kemerling, owner of Relax It’s Just Coffee, credited Lew for helping arrange the event.
“We are very grateful to Dan and Gravity Ohio for throwing this party,” he said.
“Aside from showcasing local talent, it also hopefully showed people that it’s not that hard to get to the Carrousel District!”
