This month’s recipient of the Mercer Savings Bank Giving Mission donation is Main Street Greenville.
Main Street Greenville is an organization that promotes the preservation and development of downtown Greenville, Ohio. The organization was developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which was created in 1977 to address the increasing loss of historic commercial architecture and history in the community.
What makes downtown so important to our communities? According to Main Street Greenville, a vibrant downtown retains and creates jobs, which provides tax revenues for public services; it’s also a great incubator for new businesses, which may be shut out of the high cost of strip malls. A healthy downtown also draws together community members for events, and tourists who further inject vitality into the area.
Ryan Berry has been Director of Main Street Greenville for a year, stepping into the role during one of the most difficult times in Greenville’s history.
“When I came into the position a year ago,” says Berry, “everything on Broadway was closed. They weren’t allowed to be open, so it was a challenge to get back from the closure to getting them open again, then to actually finally have events downtown to where we could bring people in. And of course that didn’t happen until September. I worked closely with the health department to try to get some of those events going. It was a rough summer.”
While some events like the farmers market outside the courthouse were able to continue, many restaurants remained closed or had limited seating, which made it difficult for many businesses to survive.
“It was a challenge,” Berry said. “We lost a few businesses. But we’ve also gained some businesses, and we’ve got some new ones getting ready to open here real soon. When we were finally able to start having events, you could see the turnaround beginning. We had a ribbon cutting to reopen downtown Greenville – just in a symbolic way – and we really pushed the shop local idea. Everything we were doing was encouraging people to shop local and support locally owned and operated businesses because they are the heart of downtown, and downtown is the heart of the community. So how the downtown goes, that’s how the rest of your community’s going. “
Donations like the one from Mercer Savings Bank are used to support the many downtown events that Main Street Greenville organizes each year. The most popular of these is their regular First Fridays, in which members of the community are encouraged to come out and enjoy special themed celebrations downtown.
“I appreciate Mercer Savings Bank for thinking of us,” says Berry. “We support a lot of businesses downtown, and we appreciate being supported in return.”
Despite a challenging first year, Berry takes great pleasure and pride in what the organization has achieved. “I really love supporting our businesses,” he says. “We have a lot of great businesses downtown. I love seeing them get involved with what we’re doing through this office. I also love just seeing downtown filled with people. It’s always great to see that.”
Support Main Street Greenville
The best way to support Main Street Greenville is to directly support the area’s businesses! However, you can also donate directly to Main Street Greenville via their website. The organization is also always looking for volunteers, especially in support of its First Friday events.
