BRIGHTON — Restaurant Week, introduced last year to aid small businesses in the wake of streetscaping, has become an annual event in Brighton.

A community marketer says it was worth bringing back — this time, on newly constructed sidewalks with a revamped Mill Pond Park and other improvements.

Restaurant Week returns Monday-Sunday, Feb. 26-March 3. About a dozen restaurants are expected to participate this year. They’ll offer special food pairings and drinks. Reservations are encouraged.

“We want to drive that traffic and keep that momentum going,” said Denise Murray, former economic development and marketing coordinator for Downtown Brighton.

The event is organized by the Livingston County Visitors and Convention Bureau and RoamInDowntown, a real estate brokerage owned by Murray, in collaboration with local eateries.

“Brighton has this really good restaurant scene,” Murray said. “In terms of where to go to dinner, Brighton should be on the map. We have this little gem of really authentic, original restaurants.”

Even local artist Kat McButterfly is getting involved, creating artwork for Restaurant Week and producing short videos for social media with Murray.

Murray said the art project has drawn a lot of attention from diners. McButterfly has already painted art on the windows of several local business in Livingston County.

On Wednesday, Feb. 21, Steven Pilon, who co-owns downtown eatery El Arbol, looked over the paintings McButterfly has made so far, while she and Murray worked on sketches inspired by his eatery.

“Our revenue definitely was up (last year),” Pilon said. He hopes this year’s event will generate a more than 20% boost in revenue, now that streetscaping construction is complete.

“I’m optimistically hopeful,” he said.

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Last year, the event was held in July because the annual Taste of Brighton was postponed. Pilon said the end of February and early March is a good time to hold the event because it’s typically a time when business is “dipping down.”

More information on restaurant offerings, hours of operation, and links to reserve tables are available at restaurantweek.guide.

— Contact reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. 

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Restaurant Week will return to Brighton as annual event