The Number Of Oneonta Summer Saturdays Get Scaled Back In 2022

Dining outdoors on Main Street in Oneonta, NY or "Meet Me on Main" was an initiative in the summer of 2020 by the Survive Then Thrive Task Force in Oneonta to encourage patrons to dine at the restaurants in the downtown section of Main St.

It was a charge led by former Oneonta Alderman Mark Drnek, who is now the city's mayor. It was quite an endeavor with a lot of volunteer help needed to not only get funding to purchase tables, chairs, and umbrellas that would be used for outdoor dining at participating eateries but it also required volunteer staffing to set up, help out during, and break down for each Saturday event. Drnek pulled it off with a lot of help and cooperation from the city.

When all was said and done, that event was enjoyed by many area residents who had been longing for something like that for a long time. Fast forward to last year with "Meet Me on Main" expanded from once a month during the warm season to every Saturday in 2021. Unfortunately, it didn't draw the number of people that the city was hoping to draw. It's hard to know why. It was most likely a handful of reasons like bad weather, local people out of town on vacation, and perhaps it was held too frequently and there was no sense of urgency to go since it would be back around the next Saturday?

Taking the past two summers into consideration and a recent survey of area residents by the City of Oneonta regarding their thoughts and ideas for "Meet Me on Main", it was decided that the dining on Main Street idea would continue at "Summer Saturdays" and be held once a month in the summer.

The Destination Oneonta Facebook page is the place to find out details of each upcoming Saturday. The first one for 2022 is coming up on May 14 from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Those who come to Downtown Oneonta for Summer Saturday can enjoy live music, vendors, activities, open-air dining, and more. There are currently two other Summer Saturdays scheduled: June 11 (coincides with SUNY Oneonta Alumni Weekend), July 23 (coincides with the BLENDO-RAMA 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament), August 13 (co-hosted by WZOZ 103.1fm), and September 17 (in collaboration with the City of the Hills Festival).

Destination Oneonta will add further details on the DO Facebook events page for upcoming events as they get closer.