Austin community leaders and representatives from Hormel Foods Corp. started working together to help downtown Austin plan and benefit from the new Spam Museum.

Community leaders and Vision 2020’s Destination Downtown met for the first time in the town center building Wednesday afternoon to start regular meetings to plan for the Spam Museum’s move downtown to on North Main Street between Second and Fourth Avenues in 2016.

About 10 community leaders discussed peak hours for the museum and visitors, ways to get visitors to other Austin destinations, tourism trends and more.

“We are absolutely going to be working with downtown businesses,” said Nicole Behne, a marketing director with Hormel.

Behne added the company wants to help everyone be successful with the move. Company leaders are already discussing ways to direct visitors to nearby restaurants, and Behne suggested businesses serve Spam-themed items, which places like Piggy Blues and Steve’s Pizza already offer.

Gretchen Ramlo, a former Spambassador, featured Spam gift items in her former store Gretchen’s on Main, which she said could be good for businesses.

“It worked really good for me,” she said.

In September, Hormel closed the Spam Museum at 1101 N. Main St. to start work on the new museum on North Main Street. Construction will start next year for the museum to open in spring or summer of 2016. A grand opening is being planned in conjunction with Hormel’s 125th anniversary celebration that summer.

Community Leaders expect the Spam Museum project to have a major impact on downtown Austin — both in 2015 and in 2016.

Vision 2020 and downtown business leaders will meet again in January to continue planning for how downtown businesses can best take advantage of the museum’s new location, which is expected to bring more visitors to downtown Austin.

The group began discussing peak hours for the museum. Currently, many downtown businesses are closed in the evenings, are open for reduced hours on Saturdays, and several are closed Sundays. However, the peak hours for the Spam Museum are on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays, though it was often busier earlier those days, according to Ramlo.

Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Nancy Schnable estimated more than 200 bus tours planned Spam Museum visits through the CVB in 2002 and 2003. From 2004 to 2014, 125 to 190 bus trips visited. Those groups typically visited other locations — the Hormel Institute, the Hormel Histsoric Home, the Paramount Theatre, etc. — as part of an itinerary; however, the CVB’s numbers don’t include family reunions, smaller groups and other travelers stopping off Interstate 90.

Similar to the bus tour trends, people expect peaks in the first few years of the new museum before visits taper off to more normal levels.

“The first year too will be different than subsequent years,” Austin Area Chamber of Commerce Director Sandy Forstner said.

Vision 2020 Director of Vision Creation Laura Helle previously warned tourism could be down a bit in 2015, when the museum is closed for construction.

Parking has been much discussed in terms of the museum and downtown, especially at the recent downtown planning sessions. However, Behne said company leaders are confident there will be ample parking. Helle too said there are hundreds of parking spots within a three-minute walk of the museum. However, Helle and the group said recreational vehicles may present the most challenges and they discussed ways to help direct drivers. The city acquired several spots for RVs and buses in a swap with Mower County, and the group discussed buses or RVs parking a few blocks away in the Riverside Arena lot, they said.

More details on the museum will be released next year, but Behne promised displays appealing to all ages.