December 2008

2008 Downtown Review

As the year comes to a close, it is a time to reflect back on the successes of our program during 2008. There are many features of our organization that are easily visible to spectators and others that remain elusive to the public. To begin let us state that the focus of our organization in 2008 was to prepare for the future, become a fully sustainable group and reach out to the community.

Organizationally we have grown to encompass over forty volunteer leaders who serve on our Board of Directors and four standing committees: design, organization, promotion, and economic restructuring. Each committee creates and maintains a downtown focus based on their relative committee. Furthermore, each committee develops a set of work plans that serve as their guide and financial responsibilities for the upcoming year.

Our Design committee is our longest standing committee and has continued to strive for a more aesthetic environment in our downtown area. With new light pole banners in place in 2007, the focus was shifted to better the current flower pot program and façade renovation plan. Beth Weidner, Weeds Greenhouse of Tina, prepared the hanging and sitting planters this year and did a fantastic job. She will be back on board in 2009 to create yet another floral masterpiece in downtown. We also completed two façade renovations with one more to be completed by the end of the year. We also have one rather large plan in the works for the downtown area in 2009 that we can’t wait to reveal!

Organizationally, Main Street Chillicothe is stronger than ever. As I said before, we are blessed to have forty driven individuals that serve as the heart of our organization. It is with their ideas and vigor that we have been able to better diversify our funding sources over the past year. We added the sales of mural ornaments, advertising on our mural brochures, hot chocolate sales at the Holiday Parade and of course who can forget the fundraising Red Hat Brunch. The event that had the entire downtown seeing “red”! Throughout the year, Main Street Chillicothe has opened the lines of communication to the downtown district and the community through this monthly column, a quarterly newsletter and a freshly updated website.

The Promotion committee has been hard at work selling downtown Chillicothe. In 2008 we revamped the much loved event of Strum & Stroll and we can say that the third time was the charm. The downtown square was teeming with life as people viewed artwork and listened to music of area musicians. The Greater Chillicothe Visitors Region teams up with Main Street Chillicothe in the spring and summer seasons to keep the downtown packed with tour buses for mural tours on the downtown corridor. Currently people can view the beautiful holiday lights in downtown. This year we were able to add over 2500 square footage of lights including the vertical sections around the square.

As the economy took a large hit in 2008, downtown is still alive with minimal vacancies and the Economic Restructuring committee is working hard to keep them low. Using past studies as support, Main Street Chillicothe is earnestly working on recruiting new businesses to add to the collection of merchants already in place. This committee also traveled to Lexington and Clinton, Missouri to explore their downtowns and glean ideas of how to better ours. It was a wonderful experience that left those communities wanting to explore our own downtown to see the great things that we have accomplished.

As we close 2008, we are reminded of the successes of Main Street Chillicothe and look forward to continued progress in 2009. Enjoy the holiday season and support our local merchants. Stop by the historic Main Street Chillicothe office on the second floor of the Chillicothe Commerce Center and pay us a visit as well.

To learn more about the Main Street Program, both locally and nationally, visit the following sites: www.mainstreetchillicothemo.com and www.mainstreet.org.