Downtown Bowling Green, Missouri is full of the towns own historic places. The "Square" is occupied by the Pike County Courthouse and is surrounded by numerous shopping & food destinations, community organizations & services, and city and county governmental agencies. Our downtown has recently seen a boost in interest as new and exciting businesses have been opening their doors and adding to the fun and making it a destination place that locals and visitors want to be. The interest from potential businesses is continuously rising and the Chamber of Commerce's Downtown Revitalization Committee is working hard to keep that attention coming. Through events, promoting downtown businesses and working on projects to beautify the area; the committee hopes to ensure the area keeps growing and is a place where everyone wants to live, work, and have fun!
The Bowling Green Downtown Revitalization Committee is a sub committee of the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce.
It was founded in February 2017 by a mixture of concerned citizens and the Chamber of Commerce. The talks began when two old buildings got to the point of no return and were set to be demolished. This sparked conversations by many in what could be done about ensuring our downtown doesn’t end up one big empty lot, and what could be done to “revitalize” and get people interested in being downtown again.
Our “Square” was once the place to be; lots of businesses and things happening all the time. Over time, buildings have become older and some owners were unable to keep up with the costly maintenance that comes with these “old buildings”; sad but true. Our committee is focusing on how we can help those current building owners keep pride in their buildings and help bring them a larger customer base. Since 2017 we have completed beautification projects to help improve the look of our downtown, as well as hosted events to encourage more “foot traffic” as well — #OccupyTheSquare!
This committee meets on the first Thursday of each month at 5:00 p.m. at the Bowling Green Community Center and it is open to the public. You do not have to be a chamber member to be involved; although it is highly encouraged!
We do our best to entice the community and visitors to visit the handful of local shops our downtown business district has to offer.
Download: Downtown Bowling Green Map >>>
*Under construction, soon we will link businesses to their website or social media pages for easy access to more of their information!*
City & County Government
1. Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce
2. Bowling Green Police Department
3. Bowling Green Public Library
4. City Hall of Bowling Green
5. Pike County Courthouse
6. Pike County Development Authority
7. Pike County Title Company
8. University of Missouri Extension
9. United States Post Office
Financial, Law & Insurance Services
10. American Family Insurance
11. Calvert’s Insurance
12. Community State Bank
13. Craig Bowen, CPA
14. Farmers Insurance
15. McGuire Law Office
16. McIlory & Millan Attorney’s at Law
17. Pike County Mutual Insurance
18. U.S. Bank
Health & Wellness
19. Bowling Green Pharmacy & Hearing Aid Center
20. Bowling Green Residential Care
21. Dr. Chismarich DDS
22. Hart Chiropractic
Media
23. Bowling Green Times
24. The People’s Tribune
Shopping
25. Ann Layne Boutique
26. Bouquet Florist & The Vintage Farmhouse
19. Bowling Green Pharmacy & Gift Shop
27. Jesse Owens Heating and Cooling
28. D & D Appliance
29. Forever Primitives & Luncheonette
30. The Garden Gate Antiques
31. Gypsy Soul Salon & Boutique
32. Hickerson’s Shoe Repair
33. MASH (Major Appliance Service Headquarters)
34. FOR RENT: Call 573-470-0161
35. Pawsitively Pampered Pets
36. Pike County Resale Shop
Community Organizations
37. Little Explorer’s Foundation
38. Masonic Lodge
39. NECAC (North East Community Action Cooperation)
40. Pike County Hope Center
Haircare
31. Gypsy Soul Salon & Boutique
41. Hair We Are
42. Rog’s Barbershop
50. Kustom Worx Hair Salon
Food & Beverage
29. Forever Primitives & Luncheonette
43. MeMe’s Pantry
44. Southside Bar & Grill
45. Spring Hollow Coffee
Other Points of Interest
46. Cancer Memorial Park
47. Pike County Genealogical Society & Museum
48. The Champ Clark House
49. War Memorial
EVENTS
The Champ Clark Heritage Festival
Every year in early September our Chamber of Commerce hosts this event packed full of local crafters, food & beverages, as well as a car show. It starts off with a parade in the morning and has local entertainment and games throughout the day! Follow the chamber on facebook to stay up to date!
Food Truck Fridays
Hosted by the Downtown Revitalization Committee since 2018. Every Friday typically from May through August you can find our local food trucks/stands here! Follow the downtown group on facebook to stay up to date.
Other Events
Our small shops and local organizations make an amazing team when it comes to organizing shopping and other events throughout the year! Follow the chamber and the downtown group on facebook to see what’s going on!
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR THE LATEST NEWS & EVENTS!
Beatification Projects:
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Concrete Planter Project:
12 Large (3'x3'x3') concrete planters are being built that will have large posts installed inside along with dirt and flowers! Banners and hopefully some hanging flower baskets will adorn the posts. We are also thinking of adding some colorful murals to the planters that boast Bowling Green History. We will be offering sponsorship opportunities for businesses to get their logo on some of the banners. $450 for 4 years. Get on the list now to be a sponsor!
- Tentative Sponsor List: Crossroads General Store, Bibb-Veach Funeral Homes, Mid-West Pest Professionals, Shimp Storage LLC, JLev.Life.
- Volunteers: George Graver (Rock & hauling), Brennen Perkins (Hauling and moving equipment), Heir Study Club & Girl Scouts (Planting flowers)
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Planter Benches:
4 planter benches were built by the NECC Building Trades class. Each bench holds two planters that we fill with seasonal plants; they also boast a business sponsor plaque. These local businesses purchased a 4 year sponsorship for $400 in early 2019 to help us raise funds for these kind of projects. We have 4 more that are in the works and a list of sponsors has begun for these as well.
- Current Sponsors until 2023: Midwest Pest Professionals, Shimp Storage LLC, Community State Bank of Missouri and PB&T Bank.
- Sponsor Wait List: BG Pharmacy, Twin Pike Family YMCA, Patti & David Fischer
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Display Walls:
Display walls were built and put into the empty "Ben Franklin" building. This project was completed in 2017 and we are currently working on rehabbing them to work better for our needs. These display walls are available to not-for-profits and chamber members once a month. *2020 update: this building has been purchased and the walls will be removed once their renovations begin.
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Historical Walking Tour:
This idea was to build some sort of posts with signage to put around downtown and then maybe throughout the rest of the town that boast history of Bowling Green & Pike County. It is still in the works, and now we are considering putting the history on our concrete planters along with murals. Once a large amount has been completed we intend on having a "map" of some sorts that will guide visitors to the locations of the planters of history.
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Events:
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Living Windows at the Holly Jolly Festival:
We held our first "Living Windows" event in November of 2017 in conjunction with the Chamber's Holly Jolly Festival and the town's "Christmas in the Green" events. We had locals fill our vacant building windows with "live" holiday scenes. Participants paid a small fee to enter the contest that boasted cash prizes donated by Community State Bank. The winners were chosen by a "spare change" vote; event attendees visited a voting station where they used their spare change to vote on their favorite scene. This event was held again in 2018 and we plan to continue it every year as long as we have the volunteers and participants! Check it out on the Holly Jolly event page >>>
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Food Truck Fridays on the Square:
Food Truck Fridays began in 2018, we invited local food vendors to set up downtown through the months of May and July each Friday so the public could enjoy what these mobile restaurants had to offer. We plan to have this event every year as long as we have the food trucks willing to come! Check it out on the event page >>>
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Downtown Daffodil Festival:
This spring event was cancelled due to COVID-19. It had plans for food trucks, vendors, music and contests. We hope to be able to launch the inaugural event next year. Check it out on the event page >>>
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Spring on the Square:
Spring on the Square was our first "solo" event held in the spring of 2018; we had a photo scavenger hunt, sold t-shirts and had a living windows contest with a spring theme.
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Downtown Hoedown:
Our first ever Downtown Hoedown was held on July 12th, 2019. Our biggest small event to date! This event was held on a Friday night and was for patrons ages 21 and over. We offered beer and beverages, live entertainment, games and snack vendors. Stay tuned for 2020!
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More events in the making! Stay up to date on our facebook page!
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OUR DOWNTOWN DREAM
- We currently became owners of a vacant lot downtown. This came after over a year of working with lot owners and sweet talking them into donating the property. We would like to give a HUGE shout out to Liberty Utilities who was the first to donate their property to us at 14 South Court Street. We have big plans for this lot, and hopefully the neighboring lots if we are lucky! Our plan with the area is to create a community space that can serve as entertainment space for events as well as to bring in mobile businesses to the area.This lot space that we have acquired downtown in a nut-shell is ONE big project compiled of a number of big and small projects. For those interested here is a rough draft of our plans for this space; To give our community and tourists a destination spot for entertainment, events and shopping with an ultimate goal of stimulating life and a vibrant business economy for Bowling Green as a whole!The Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce Downtown Revitalization Committee’s Liberty Theatre & Downtown Market Place Project
- The Purpose:
To give our community and tourists a destination spot for entertainment, events and shopping with an ultimate goal of
stimulating life and a vibrant business economy for Bowling Green. - The Plan:
The entrance building will have a breezeway boasting all the donors who made this project possible as well as serve for
event storage and electricity. The lot will be lined by beautiful planters that will show off flowers and welcoming banners
for the area, the stage will serve as a space to adequately host events, and the Chalets will serve as small retail shops: "Downtown Marketplace" (See tab on this page above for more information). In addition
there will be picnic table style seating, outdoor lighting, local art murals and other creative/interactive additions. - The Goal:
With the help of donations, fundraisers, volunteers and grant funding we hope to have this project complete by 2025.
The estimated cost for this complete project is $50,000.00.
Want to help or learn more? Contact Chamber of Commerce President, Tracy Brookshier: 314-971-5886
tbrookshier@pikecountyhealth.org Follow the action on our facebook page facebook@BGdowntownRevitalization
Download this flyer >>> Liberty Theatre and Downtown Market Place Project
The Chamber of Commerce’s Downtown Revitalization Committee has been working hard over the past couple of years to develop a small vacant portion of downtown into a thriving area. Part of this large project is bringing in small buildings (chalets) to create a destination point for visitors: The "Downtown Marketplace". The ultimate goal of this Downtown Marketplace project is to bring the nostalgia back to the square and surrounding areas, give start up businesses an easy way to test their product, and create a downtown destination for visitors and the community. Developing and improving this area will allow the community countless new possibilities, along with giving future businesses the opportunity to grow and succeed, these chalets will be erected one at a time or as need arises.
We hope that these small buildings will serve as great start up business opportunities for those who want to get their feet wet in the business ownership world with little financial burden. Our goal is to have at least 1 chalet built each year as long as our not-for-profit and fundraising budget allows. The rental income from these chalet's will help our committee fund more downtown projects and more events to bring traffic to the downtown businesses. We hope to see these businesses succeed and eventually be able to move out into a larger space and continue to grow their business in Bowling Green.
*See the "Projects & Events" tab for more information on this project and others.
January 2020 update:
Pike Lincoln Technical Center’s Building Trades class is nearing completion for our FIRST CHALET!!!!!! This thing is HUGE!!! If your interested in renting this retail space contact us NOW to get on the list! It will be moved to our downtown lot late spring/early summer and be the beginning of our "Downtown Marketplace" !
We are working on rental agreements and applications and when complete we will have them listed here for those interested. As of right now the following are rough guidelines we are planning to implement:
- Rent will be between $300-$350 per month depending on electrical needs.
- Renters will be required to sign a lease no less than 6 months in length.
- Little to no deposit will be required
- There will be no plumbing in them at this moment but we hope to offer this in the future. We will have portable restroom available for renters and their customers.
- Renters will be required to be open for no less than 10 hours per week; with 4 of those hours being required on Saturday mornings.
- Renters will benefit from the growing foot traffic that our downtown district already has and will be strategically placed downtown in the middle of all the event action.
For more questions please contact Tracy Brookshier, Chair Person and Chamber President: 314-971-5886 tbrookshier@pikecountyhealth.org
Our committee meets on the first Thursday of each month, 5:00 p.m. at the Bowling Green Community Center. This meeting is open to the public and we encourage all with interest to attend. We discuss ongoing projects, new ideas and events to help bring life back to our downtown and #OccupyTheSquare!
THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS & DONORS!
It takes a special kind of person to volunteer their time and donate their services; and our community is full of those kinds of people. We would like to thank the following businesses and people for helping us in our endeavor to revitalize our downtown these names will also get a plaque in our future Liberty Theatre Breezeway to show our appreciate for years to come:
- Liberty Utilities: Donated property worth $9,500
- Cindy & Paul Williams: Donated property worth $400
- Four Points Land Surveying & Engineering Inc.: Donated survey fees of $650
- Perkins Electric: Donated a portion of electric installation $100 and cash donation of $250
- Elisha Koenig: Donated appraisal costs $350
- Bowling Green Lumber: Donated blue print services $250
- Jeffrey Shaw Law: Donated title recording fees: $150
- Todd Crane: Donated labor fees for leveling and laying gravel on our lot $473.50
- Bill Crane: Donated a season of mowing and towed our Santa House to our lot $
- North East Correctional Center: Building Trades class built planter benches and trashcans
- North East Correctional Center: Horticulture class donated flowers for planter benches
- Community State Bank: Donated $2,000 in cash and cash prizes for events
- Mid West Pest Professionals: cleaned and prepared our Santa House
- All Way Wire and Rope: $150
- Bowling Green Tire: $100
- Bowling Green Veterinary Clinic: $100
- Crossroads General Store: $100
- John and Sharon Gulik: $125
- MASH: $100
- Meyer Implement: $100
- POET Bio Refinery: $100
- Southside Bar & Grill : $100
- St. Clement Sales and Service: $100
- Super 8 Hotel: $125
- US Bank: $100
- Woods Smoked Meats: $250
- Bleigh Ready Mix: donated concrete for our concrete planters
- 3B Machine and Weld: created and donated the form needed for concrete planters
WANT TO HELP?
If you are interested in volunteering on our committee please join us at our next meeting, reach out to us on our facebook page or contact Tracy Brookshier; Chair Person and President of the Chamber of Commerce (314) 971-5886 tbrookshier@pikecountyhealth.org.
Or maybe you are interested in donating to help us with projects and events; you can donate right now online by using the paypal donate button below OR Send checks payable to Bowling Green Downtown Revitalization (please put "Donation" on the memo line), P.O. Box 315, Bowling Green, MO 63334.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST!
We would like to thank our most active members; these are those who have attended majority of meetings or been volunteers we can count on:
Tracy Brookshier (Chair Person), Shelley Wiler with Crossroads General Store, Marianne Everhart with KJFM Radio, Erica Mitalovich with Spring Hollow Coffee, Brittany Henke & Elizabeth Kingsley with Community State Bank, Sue Haley with The Garden Gate Antiques, Allen Chandler with Bowling Green Housing Authority, Danielle Orf with Pepsi Co., & Amber Grote.
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