Joe Downtown: Zappos to show vendors appreciation Big Easy-style

By Joe Schoenmann

Published Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013 | 11:59 a.m.

Updated Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013 | 12:47 p.m.

On what is normally a sleepy night, thousands of people from around the world will descend Sunday upon Fremont East for the Zappos annual vendor appreciation party.

The party caters to the vendors who sell their wares through Zappos.com, which carved out its niche selling shoes but has expanded and now sells clothing, sporting goods, handbags, jewelry, beauty supplies, glasses/sunglasses and even inflatable beds.

Those invited to the party will wear wristbands that entitle them to free drinks in several of the bars in the one- to two-block area. Those bars and businesses are being paid an unspecified amount to open their businesses to the partiers.

Despite the expected crowd, the street isn't scheduled to be closed to the general public. For that to have occurred, all businesses on the stretch of Fremont East would have needed to agree to a closure. The Griffin tavern, 511 Fremont St., one of its owners said earlier this week, will be open to regular customers as usual. Music stages and fencing will, however, block vehicular traffic.

The party is scheduled to go five hours, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., according to invitations. New Orleans and the Big Easy are the party's theme, with the invitation encouraging people to dress in "Mardi Gras-themed attire."

In addition, local trumpeter Joey Pero will join several musicians from the New Orleans area, including Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Mia Borders, Stooges Brass Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Dancing Man 504.

Joe Schoenmann doesn’t just cover downtown, he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group’s embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Arts building.