Photo Credit: Kasper Photography
About Madison Main Street
Madison Main Street is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization designated by Indiana Main Street and accredited by the National Main Street Center. Madison is one of more than 1,200 Main Street communities across the country with the common goal of preserving America’s historic downtown as economically vital centers of the community.
You may know the Madison Main Street Program through events that engage the community and support downtown businesses – Music in the Park, Girls Weekend, Window Decorating Contests, Loft Tour, or maybe Holiday Open House. What you may not know about are the less visible, but equally high-impact projects that Madison Main Street Program delivers. Take a brief look back on 2023 with us!
February, a quiet month for retailers, was the perfect time to host a free workshop for 30+ business owners. This event was the third in a series created in partnership with German American Bank.
Girls Weekend has been held in March for the past 4 years to increase foot traffic and the number of shoppers during an otherwise slow month. The event has grown steadily, and in 2023 there were 190 tickets purchased and over 70 businesses participated.
April brought rain showers and MMSP’s Annual Gala with over 200 attendees. 2023 award recipients were: Innovation Award to Chandler Morris, owner of Morris on Main; Business Excellence Award to Beth Lewis, owner of Old Tyme Marketplace; Tribute Award (in memory of Judy George) to Larry Ricci, founder of the Rainbow River Club; and the Legacy Award to Steve and Elizabeth Thomas, owners of Thomas Family Winery.
May, Madison’s producer-only Farmers Market (the oldest in Indiana) switched from shorter winter hours to its summer schedule of 8 am to noon. The bountiful summer season brought an average of 350+ shoppers each week and 30+ vendors during the summer peak. Did you know that 3 of the market’s vendors accept WIC to help low-income women with children purchase food? Since 2021, more than 1,500 additional people have followed the Madison Farmers Market on Facebook.
In June, the iconic Music in the Park series returned to the downtown entertainment scene. Four free concerts in June, July, August, and September with an average audience of 500 + people, many of whom dine and shop downtown before the concerts.
Our Promotions Committee and many downtown businesses partnered to leverage the extremely popular “Barbie” movie to attract shoppers downtown the weekend of July 22.
In September Main Street America announced Madison, Indiana as one of eight national semi-finalists for the Great American Main Street Award – this is an incredible recognition and marketing opportunity for Madison. Award winners will be announced in May 2024.
Design Committee’s “Fall Back to Your Roots” fall decoration contest brought a festive look to downtown as the town transitioned from summer to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
MMSP’s biennial Loft Tour on October 7th introduced almost 300 attendees to eight unique upper-story spaces downtown. Designed to inspire the public to consider abundant upper stories as residences, workspaces, or live/work space. Featured properties ranged from the pristinely finished Chandler Hotel to a semi-finished apartment space above Crawdaddy Music, to very raw spaces.
Holiday Open House kicked off the holiday season in downtown Madison! The event generated hundreds of transactions that supported the 200+ downtown businesses!
Weekly “Main Street Monday” e-newsletter reaches more than 2,000 people with an average open rate greater than 50%. Downtown businesses are invited to submit their news to be combined with happenings in Madison and MMSP’s own news to keep visitors and residents informed.
Staff and board members completed over 125 hours of training from Main Street America, Indiana Main Street, and conference attendance.
Excluding board members, 105 members of the community volunteered with MMSP in 2023 logging more than 1,200 hours.
Over 300 free tote bags were distributed to event attendees, shoppers, and visitors during the year – all courtesy of our generous sponsors.
We can't wait to see you in downtown Madison!
Austin Sims
Madison Main Street Program
Executive Director
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