How Downtown Tempe Used Driftscape to Turn Specials Into a Trail at Tempe Blooms
April 1, 2026
A floral festival worth deeper exploration
Tempe Blooms is built for strolling. Downtown Tempe fills up with large-scale floral installations, live murals, rotating music, and a vendor market that changes the feel of each block.
The challenge is that district wide festivals can be easy to experience in pieces. Visitors might see a couple installations, catch some music, then head out without realizing there are specials, vendors, and moments tucked a few streets over.
The goal for the Jan 24–25 event was simple: encourage people to explore more of the festival footprint by giving them easy reasons to keep moving, including limited time Flowerful Specials from downtown businesses.
The Solution: Digital specials that guide real world exploring
Downtown Tempe used Driftscape as a complement to the in person festival experience by turning Flowerful Specials into a digital trail visitors could follow.
Instead of relying on visitors to stumble onto specials, the interactive map made them easy to spot while people were already walking between installations and activities. Visitors could tap “Learn more” to see which businesses had floral inspired food, drinks, mocktails, and limited time merch, then look for the STOP HERE poster in the window when they arrived.
A floral festival worth deeper exploration
Tempe Blooms is built for strolling. Downtown Tempe fills up with large-scale floral installations, live murals, rotating music, and a vendor market that changes the feel of each block.
The challenge is that district wide festivals can be easy to experience in pieces. Visitors might see a couple installations, catch some music, then head out without realizing there are specials, vendors, and moments tucked a few streets over.
The goal for the Jan 24–25 event was simple: encourage people to explore more of the festival footprint by giving them easy reasons to keep moving, including limited time Flowerful Specials from downtown businesses.
The Solution: Digital specials that guide real world exploring
Downtown Tempe used Driftscape as a complement to the in person festival experience by turning Flowerful Specials into a digital trail visitors could follow.
Instead of relying on visitors to stumble onto specials, the interactive map made them easy to spot while people were already walking between installations and activities. Visitors could tap “Learn more” to see which businesses had floral inspired food, drinks, mocktails, and limited time merch, then look for the STOP HERE poster in the window when they arrived.
What You Can Do with Driftscape
Driftscape helped Downtown Tempe connect festival programming with local business visits by making specials part of the route, not a separate promo.
Turned Flowerful Specials into a digital trail that encouraged visitors to keep exploring
Highlighted participating restaurants, bars, and retailers so businesses were easier to find during peak festival hours
Supported a district wide flow by helping visitors choose their next stop in the moment
Reduced friction by giving visitors one place to find specials and key festival POIs
Created a repeatable festival playbook the team can reuse for future downtown activations
Results That Mattered
Driftscape complemented the festival experience by turning Flowerful Specials into a digital trail visitors could follow. During Jan 24–25, the top special earned about 225 views and 12 POIs exceeded 100 views, showing the specials helped spread attention across multiple stops throughout Downtown Tempe.
In 2 days, Tempe Blooms generated 1,948 POI views, showing strong visitor interaction with the event’s featured locations and experiences.
The top ten most-viewed locations (Daily Jam, Snakes & Lattes, Caffe Boa, and more) attracted 150-200 views with their discounts and special food offers.
In total, the activation supported 19 points of interest and 1 tour, giving visitors multiple ways to explore the event and engage with local businesses through Driftscape.
Together, these signals point to visitors using the map as a decision tool while they explore, helping specials and businesses stay part of the festival story.
Why digital specials fit a district wide festival
Tempe Blooms was already full of reasons to wander, but visitors still needed gentle direction to experience more than the most obvious stops. Digital specials worked because they gave people a simple next step.
When someone finished a floral display or passed a live music spot, the map helped answer the natural question: where should we go next? With specials visible on the route, exploring more of downtown felt rewarding, not like extra planning.
The STOP HERE poster also helped connect digital wayfinding with real world confirmation, so visitors could recognize participating locations immediately.
Takeaways for BIAs and Festival Teams
Use digital specials to encourage movement across the full festival footprint
Treat the map like a trail, not a directory. Help visitors choose the next stop in the moment
Connect art and entertainment to local spend by placing food, drink, and retail specials along the route
Make participation obvious on the street with simple signage like window posters
Reuse the same digital trail approach for seasonal events, markets, and weekend activations
Want visitors to explore more of your festival?
Driftscape helps downtown teams turn event specials into a self guided experience visitors can follow, with interactive tourism maps, business spotlights, and measurable engagement.
If you want to run digital specials that encourage people to keep walking, keep browsing, and keep stopping in, book a demo.