There’s a business cliche that states “Don’t work harder, work smarter.” And that’s what Butler Downtown has done with its Fairy Door Trail program.

Looking for a family-friendly activity to draw people to Butler’s Main Street, the organization, whose mission is to spruce up Butler’s downtown, came up with the fairy door project earlier this year.

Needing nothing more than the cooperation of 13 downtown business owners and some wooden doors, group members Krista Washkau and Lisa Helmbreck came up with a concept to bring parents and children downtown to track down elusive invisible fairies.

Using a passport, so-called “seekers“ try to match the names of each of the 13 fairies to the business that is the location of their door. Each passport contains a clue to the door’s location and a partial picture of the door.

Seekers are encouraged to walk up and down both sides of Main Street to spot the doors and fill out their passports. Completed passports are turned in for a prize bag.

The doors usually are decorated by the host business. They are placed in windows facing the street, so commerce and business won’t be interrupted.

And there’s no time limit to when the passports have to be completed, which can prompt multiple visits downtown to complete the quest.

Butler Downtown’s reasoning is that fairy hunters might be tempted to stop for a drink or a snack at one of the downtown eateries. While they’re looking into windows, if merchandise catches their fancy, so much the better.

Butler Downtown has given out hundreds of passports since the Fairy Door Trail initiative kicked off in June. About 40 have been turned in, so many more may still be out there, hunting and visiting Main Street.

Kudos to Washkau, Helmbrek and the rest of Butler Downtown for coming up with a low-cost, low-stress attraction to bring folks as well as potential customers downtown.

— EKF