Downtown Revitalization Committee Meeting
Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 @ 5 p.m.
Next Meeting: Thursday July 1st @ 5PM
In attendance were Tracy Brookshier, Christina Orf, Stan Swartz, Amber Grote & Jessie McMorris
——————————————– PROJECTS ———————————————-
Benches on the square Project Lead: Brittany Henke, Tracy Brookshier
No new updates – NECC Building Trades class was working on 4 more planter/benches for us; unsure on a completion time as they no longer have an instructor. We already have 3 people ready to sponsor these.
Downtown Dream Project Project Lead: Tracy Brookshier
The lots that we have downtown have plans to create one large event/public space. It consists of multiple projects consisting of:
1.) Downtown Market Place Chalets: Water and sewer hookup is in the works for blue chalet, anticipated to be done late june. Juice bar wants to open by end of July. Kyle Scherder agreed to get piers in place for red chalet and new chalet.
2.) Downtown Entrance Building: (no new updates) We discussed that we likely will not have the funds for this project for a while, with lumber prices continuing to rise. We accepted the bid to build this from Dempsey Construction. The estimated cost was less than $14,000.00 last year and we are sure it is more now. This will be the glorified entrance to our lot space. It will have event storage, ticket window, windows to display upcoming events and a breezeway full of plaques for our donors.
3.) Liberty Theatre Stage: (No new updates).We are hoping to get this done fully through donations. The stage we are thinking will be a simple deck platform roughly 20’ x 16’ with a roof to use for entertainment. We have reached out to the Lions Club assistance. If you know of anyone interested in helping please let us know.
4.) Concrete planters: McCoy Thompson was hired to work on solar lights and getting them finished. We are creating an agreement for concrete planter sales. Murals will be painted on concrete planters by Heritage Festival.
5.) Seating/Entertainment: (No new updates) We have requested picnic tables of some sort, new or gently used to place on the gravel portion of our lots. Cole Branstetter has reached out to some that may be willing to build us some.
In total these projects will cost us roughly $50,000.00 once complete. We will continue to do fundraisers until complete.
Bringing Interactive Art Downtown: Project Lead:
(No new updates) A couple businesses downtown have already had fun with this idea, we hope to have places to add these in the future.
Historical Walking Tour: Project Lead: Brittany Henke
(No new updates). Brittany has gathered a good amount of Bowling Green History for this project and we discussed getting the information on some sort of plaque to add to the planters that we are already working on in order to save money; the planters would then serve double duty!
—————————————- EVENTS/FUNDRAISERS ———————————–
Food Truck Fridays: Project Lead: Danielle Orf and Tracy Brookshier.At this time, we have decided to offer food trucks to use our lot for serving food and just ask them for enough notice so that we can help promote them being there.
Shop-2-Win Downtown Punch Card Raffle: Project Lead: Tracy Brookshier, Brittany Henke. We did this again fall 2020, still only profited a small amount (around $100) but we feel we will continue each year as it gains interest.
Downtown Hoedown: Project Lead: Tracy Brookshier, Brittany Henke. WE NEED AS MANY VOLUNTEERS AS WE CAN GET! Please give me a heads up if you plan to help out! Hoping to start set up at NOON on July 9th! We will also need help tearing down and cleaning up! Chamber website has been updated with all the relevant information. We need at least another $1,000 in sponsorships to make the profit we did last year. Tshirt presales and sponsor deadline is June 25th. We have Mernas Kitchen, A Taste of Philly, Aloha Pizza Truck, Sugar Shack so far for vendors. Have reached out to kettle corn vendors again as well.
Champ Clark Heritage Festival/Paint the Street: Project Lead: Tracy Brookshier
We have decided not to do a beer garden/concert this year. The few volunteers we had the last couple years doing it don’t have the energy as it made for an extremely exhausting day. Instead we are just going to continue with the Paint the Street event during the festival as it went over well the first year we did it. This year everyone will be open to paint during the designated time. There will be an entry fee and cash prizes again for votes taken via facebook. We have plenty of left over paint from the previous year, so we will only need to purchase brushes again.
————————————— OTHER BUSINESS —————————————–
Vacant buildings on the square Project Lead: Brittany Henke, Tracy Brookshier
(No new updates) The old Peoples Tribune building is for sale by Jim Turner. There is an office space available to rent by Jim Wells right off the square. Bill Allen has been working on the Ben Franklin building and hopes to have 2 businesses open within it by the end of the year. We have not heard anything new from Mario on the old Dos Primos building. Chad Perkins is supposed to be getting us information regarding his available store front. Travis Dixon owns the building that is behind Ann Layne (next to Spring Hollow Coffee) and is hoping to have it ready to rent by this fall. I have not reached out to Spring Hollow lately for an update regarding their building remodel.
Grants Project Lead: Sarrah Gigous, Brittany Henke
(No new updates)We have been told that we have someone working on a grant for our committee that would potentially give us $6,000 to put towards our downtown marketplace projects! Keep your fingers crossed!
www.facebook.com/bgdowntownrevitalization
Tracy Brookshier – Chairperson – 314-971-5886 tbrookshier@pikecountyhealth.org
Next Meeting! Thursday July 1st, 2020 @ 5PM
