24HourDallas Pushing For A More Vibrant Nighttime Economy

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Businesses were banking on crowds wanting to watch the Super Bowl, and that was the case in downtown Dallas on Sunday.

There's a non-profit called 24HourDallas pushing to create more opportunities for businesses and people -- not just on a Super Bowl night, but every night between 6pm-6am.

"We believe we no longer live in a 9 to 5 city, we actually have a 24-hour economy so the time is now to support the nighttime economy, support the residents that live here, and the businesses who do really great things in the community too," said Jasmin Brand, Vice President of 24HourDallas.

Brand said Dallas needs to compete with other large metros such as New York City and Los Angeles where they have that culture already, "Now is the future, we want to start thinking ahead, if we think about the Super Bowl and cities that have really robust nice nighttime cultures, Dallas has an opportunity to do the exact same thing."

The goals of this non-profit are to have a meaningful nighttime economy, keep businesses and people safe at night, plan to have urban designs, transportation and environmental priorities that create ideal nighttime places, cultural innovation showcasing arts, respect and inclusion ensuring all races, ethnicities, faiths, ages, economic classes, sexual orientations, abilities have a place in the community.

The extra foot traffic later would help street musicians like Rickey Mitchell. "I remember as a kid we used to go to places at 3 in the morning just to go buy stuff and I miss that."

However, some store managers CBS 11 spoke with believe creating this vision would be difficult.

"I think it's a great concept but I think the problem is the city, and how the city kind of dies [at night], so around 2 o'clock everybody is wrapping it up going home or just too drunk to shop," said Michael Turner, Manager of Dated. Faded. Worn. Vintage store in Dallas.

The non-profit started in 2020 and have twenty nighttime businesses signed up fort 24HourDallas' Copper Star certification program.

To learn more about 24HourDallas, click here.