NORWICH – The Norwich Merchants Association is making the final preparations for its annual Street Festival and Sidewalk Sale and making plans this year to incorporate more of a community feel in a longstanding custom for downtown Norwich.

Sidewalks of North and South Broad streets will be overfilled with shoes, clothing, jewelry, home decor and plenty more when main street merchants pull items from storefront windows and show them off outdoors. “It’s been a tradition around here,” said Merchants Association President Anna McLaughlin. “People have always come out for sidewalk sales. It’s been great for businesses and it’s a nice way to remind people what’s around town.”

While the focus of past sidewalk sales has been on highlighting downtown businesses, the thought this year was to transform the yearly event into a community-wide celebration to “show the community the best Norwich has to offer,” explained McLaughlin.