Event Spotlight: Dayton Black Business Hop

We’ve had some amazing partner events throughout the past few months and wanted to use our blog space to highlight the unique ways organizations have been using Roamli! This past August the city of Dayton, Ohio hosted their first-ever Gem City Black Business Month in a way to help residents explore and support locally owned Black-owned businesses.

The Downtown Dayton organization created their Downtown Dayton Black Business Hop event which took place on August 14th from 11AM-3PM. The hop included Black-owned shops, studios, salons, restaurants, cafes, and other vendors which kicked off at Third Perk Coffeehouse. Each location was listed as a Challenge through the Roamli mobile app where participants & shoppers used the app to check-in and complete fun activities to earn prizes and compete for raffle entries.

The event was aimed to build awareness of Dayton’s Black-owned businesses and encourage locals/visitors to engage with them, and generate new customers. Over 18 businesses participated with nearly 300 unique submissions and visits during the 4-hour event. The event was set up as a Roamli “Track” which has set locations and a pre-determined order in which visitors can explore. While participants do not need to visit Challenges in that exact order, it provides a map with a starting and endpoint that takes players around the city. The Black Business Hop concluded at the restaurant 1Eleven, where people were able to celebrate and the raffle prizes were announced.

Roamli Tracks are a great way for new businesses to highlight their offerings as well as indicate if they’ve moved to a new location. Businesses have full control of their page in the Roamli app and can set special discounts and other offerings available to those participating in the event. The Black Business Hop was just one of Downtown Dayton’s many events celebrating Black Business Month and we’re thrilled to help be a part of the next one in 2022!