Thanks for supporting Main Street Greencastle

To the Editor:

Those of us who live in or near Greencastle can easily forget that our Historic Downtown District is a unique part of our heritage that requires our attention and support so that it can be preserved and passed along to our children and grandchildren to enjoy.

Main Street Greencastle has been active for 26 years in its mission to "Preserve, Enhance, and Promote our Downtown Business District."

Our volunteer group of citizens meets regularly to organize and promote use of our downtown. We are now preparing for the annual Fair on the Square, for example. That will be followed by a newly energized and expanded Saturday Downtown Farmer's Market.

During the recent meetings with our city council to discuss establishment of a Economic Improvement District (EID or BID for Business Improvement District), many people spoke up to say that enhancement of our public spaces should be voluntary or led by businesses, not by a BID board. Indeed, many people pointed out that our downtown looked pretty good without the need for a BID or outside revenue.

Our downtown has seen improvements over the past year due to the efforts of the City, Main Street Greencastle, and the Redevelopment Commission (RDC). Main Street's fund raising efforts resulted in the purchase of 11 new refuse receptacles. Through grants and volunteer labor, Main Street decorated the downtown for the Holiday Season. The City, through funding by the RDC, purchased new benches, high efficiency street lights, trimmed the trees, and planted ornamental arrangements in the downtown planters.

This year, the RDC has funded four more benches, eight more trash receptacles, and banner arms for the downtown street lights. Private funding through the Putnam County Community Foundation provides seasonal banners for the streetlights. Our downtown looks better than it has in many years because of volunteer donations and generous funding by the RDC.

However, Main Street Greencastle continues to need support for programming and advertising events to attract visitors to our city center. Main Street would like to encourage those who might have opposed the BID to express their support for our downtown by becoming members of our organization. Membership donations can be sent to Main Street Greencastle P.O. Box 41, Greencastle. We will use these donations to enhance and promote our downtown business district. All of your tax-deductible donations will be used for downtown activities. We are a totally volunteer organization.

Finally, we would like to sincerely thank our 2008 and First Quarter 2009 members who have given generously to support our programs:

York Chevy Buick Pontiac GMC

Walmart Grant-Landscaping Grant

AA Huber & Sons, Inc.

North Salem State

DePauw University

Gary and Regina Barcus

Murray & Associates

Alan & Donna Stanley

Ralph & Sally Gray

Richard Sunkel

Harry Tran

Jinsie Bingham

Bob & Ellen Sedlack

Brian W. Casey

Ken & Margo Bode

North Salem State Bank

Old National Bank

Putnam County Library

Dale Oliver, D.D.S.

Ken & Jacquelyn Eitel

Rex and Carol Call

We urge all citizens to join them in their support of our heritage.

Gary Barcus

President, Board of Directors

Main Street Greencastle