Several downtown Danville activities scheduled

DANVILLE – An open house held by Downtown Danville Inc. and hosted by Vermilion County Title provided lots of information for, and discussion by, downtown business owners.

Dana Schaumburg, DDI executive director, said several activities are planned for the downtown, and she hopes businesses will either stay open for them or participate in them.

Activities already scheduled include encouraging businesses to begin decorating their storefronts for the holiday season on Nov. 7; a pre-holiday sales event Nov. 14 during regular business hours; the Night of Lights Parade, with entertainment at Temple Plaza in the late afternoon and the parade at 6:30 p.m.; and forming a committee to organize activities for the Dec. 4-5 "A Winter's Gathering" event. So far, the event will include horse-drawn carriage rides and maybe a scavenger hunt.

"DDI wants to do anything we can to bring people downtown to see what we have and to shop," Schaumburg said.

Dan and Jodi Duncheon are planning to become downtown business owners after the first of the year. They will move Kids Kloset, a children's and maternity resale shop, on East Main Street to 35 N. Vermilion St. A portion of the space will house another Duncheon business, Fast Funds. They expect to be open by March 15.

"We won't make this holiday season, but we want to get involved," Dan Duncheon said. "We're also looking at developing the second floor as our residence."

John Dreher, city community development manager, said he's glad to see more people not only interested in putting a business downtown but also living there.

"It's a mindset," Dreher said. "Whatever you've done for 24 months becomes normal. If you drive 50 miles to work, you get used to it; if you use the parking garages, you get used it; and if you live downtown or near downtown, you can get used to walking instead of driving to all the resources we have down here."

Dreher said city staffers can walk through a building with prospective buyers to make them generally aware of issues that codes would be required to be brought up-to-date. He said it would be up to the prospective buyer to get estimates on costs, but the walk-through would give them something to go by.

Owners discussed creating a map to show business locations and what they sell.

Schaumburg said a brochure is already in the works that all businesses can place on their counters.

"We want to give the downtown a neighborhood feel," she said. "The brochure would show where to eat and where to shop."

Schaumburg is also helping downtown businesses market themselves through social media.

"DDI can design and promote their Facebook page," she said. "We can set it up and train people how to use it as a marketing tool. We will also deliver downtown businesses' fliers, if they will furnish the fliers."

Concerns of those in attendance were use of parking spaces by downtown business employees and the speed at which vehicles using Vermilion and North streets travel, making it hard for diagonally parked vehicles to back out and for pedestrians to cross the street.

Schaumburg said some vacant buildings that owners only wanted to sell are now available to lease, and other building owners have vacated spaces available within their buildings.

Call Downtown Danville Inc. for more information on what is available at 443-3886.

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