The second term of Kirkwall BID ends in March. Between now and then, businesses get to vote on whether they want BID to continue for another five years. It’s a good moment to look back on some of BID’s achievements. So here’s my personal Kirkwall BID Top Ten, 2013 to 2023.

1. Winter Lighting. Walk along Victoria Street, Bridge Street or Laing Street and look up. Those canopies of glittering lights that bring brightness to our dark winters are one of my favourite BID initiatives. We’d be so much gloomier without them. The tree wraps on the Kirk Green and the lamppost illuminations on Junction Road are BIDs too.

2. Flower Power. The hanging baskets of flowers are the work of the Community Council, but BID provides the beautiful planters and wooden benches, employing expert local businesses to maintain them – and move them to safety in ba season.

3. Merry-Go-Round. In 2019 BID brought a colourful Victorian carousel to Bridge Street, an enormous popular success. Three months later Covid hit, ushering in tough years for local businesses and individuals. For a while it seemed like big events might be a thing of the past, but with extra health safeguards we got…

4. The Ice Rink. Wow, remember that? 6,000 visitors came to the town centre over a bitterly cold long weekend in November 2021 to enjoy skating, a giant snow globe, and a host of attractions laid on by local businesses.

5. Costa del Kirkwall. With the County Show cancelled again in 2021, BID turned the Broad Street carpark into a beach, complete with deck chairs, sandcastles, Ortak groatie buckies, and crazy golf. Despite some initial scepticism, the Costa was thronged with happy people from morning to night.

6. The Most Beautiful Town in Scotland! In 2019 Kirkwall was awarded this honour in a nationwide competition. BID’s entry described not just the attractiveness of the town, but the wonderful array of local businesses that fill it, the year-round public events from pipe band parades to the ba, and the sense of community that is all important.

7. Halloween Parade. BID’s annual celebration of all things ghostly and ghastly is an amazing demonstration of creativity and humour from the hundreds of folk of all ages who dress up in spooky costumes and march through the town. Businesses get in the spirit with ingeniously carved Nasty Neep displays.

8. Covid Support. Health worries in the face of an unkan threat hit us as individuals and families, and then financial fears hit many businesses. Faced with a compulsory lockdown and a collapse of the summer economy, BID did all it could to support its members, including winning extra funding for businesses and free public parking provision for the duration of the crisis.

9. Virtual Reality. Restrictions around Covid pushed more of our activities online than ever before. BID aims to use the power of the internet to get people to lay down their devices and enjoy the town In Real Life. Its website has a useful business directory in listing and map form, but most of its activities are on social media. BID’s big Instagram and Facebook reach puts the activities of small businesses in front of thousands of potential customers.

10. Working Together. I’ve got to number ten already, and there’s so much more I could say! So, I’ll end with the catch-all notion of partnerships. BID has a hardworking but tiny staff – currently three part-timers. They work in partnership with the volunteers on the BID board, all of whom come from the BID area and give their time and energy for free. Almost all the businesses in the area appreciate what BID is trying to do, even if not all activities benefit them immediately. BID has also established partnerships with many parts of the OIC, and our MSP. Local and national media have covered BID’s activities extensively, and The Orcadian has been a valuable partner for advertising, printing, news stories, competitions…and this column.

Most importantly, BID is about the partnership between Kirkwall’s businesses and its people: over ten years BID has contributed significantly to our community. Here’s hoping it continues to do so following a big YES in the reballot.

You can read more about Kirkwall BID and its activities on its website here. BID is also very active on Facebook and Instagram, both with its own posts and sharing posts of its members.

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 25th January 2023. A new one appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.

Diary of a Shopkeeper, 22nd January