2009 was one of Main Street Orion’s most successful years, Main Street president Kevin Roberts said.
“We accomplished a great deal,” he said.
Last year, the Orion Village Board challenged Main Street to do more for the community, Village President Jim Cooper said.
The group came through.
“2009 was by far a very successful year for you,” Cooper told Roberts at a village board meeting in January.
One of Main Street’s missions is to promote economic development, and in 2009 the group stepped up to help resolve a crisis involving a type of business that every small town needs.
When owner Rich Woods unexpectedly closed Orion Drugstore on Thursday, Oct. 1, Main Street Orion organized community meetings to determine what residents wanted, Roberts said.
Out of the meetings came a task force that found a pharmacist, he said.
Marci Kenney of Lynn Center plans to open Orion Family Pharmacy this month in the retail center of the former Etheridge lumberyard.
Main Street Orion provided two financial incentives that helped attract the new pharmacy, Roberts said.
One was a facade improvement grant, and the other was a low-interest loan, he said.
The loan was made possible by the cooperative interest buy-down program. BankORION offers loans at less than market cost, and the Village of Orion and Main Street Orion provide funds to help pay the interest rate.
Cooper acknowledged Main Street’s efforts in bringing a pharmacy to Orion.
“The village was not prepared to look for a pharmacy,” Cooper said.
Promoting the community is another mission of Main Street. Often the group accomplishes that with entertainment events that attract residents of both Orion and surrounding communities. In fact, fans drive hundreds of miles to hear Bill Allred’s Classic Jazz Band perform at Jazz in the Park.
Main Street Orion’s experience with entertainment helped save a beloved Orion institution.
After Orion Lions Club decided not to continue its leadership of Orion Fall Festival, Main Street volunteers stepped up to sponsor the entertainment, Roberts said.
They put on a Battle of the Bands, a street dance and a talent show, he said.
The pharmacy search and the Fall Festival entertainment were two of the group’s successes, Cooper said.
Main Street Orion’s 2009 highlights included its first-ever golf outing at Hillcrest Resort north of Orion, Roberts said.
Highlights also included “a successful trivia night and the ever-popular Daddy-Daughter Dance,” he said.
During the six-hour community garage sale in June, more than 100 participants made about $50,000 total, Roberts said.
Band shell entertainment included two music-and-movie nights and the Bill Allred’s Classic Jazz Band concert, he said.
2009 also included a bulb sale, the Haunted Halloween Hustle and Saturday with Santa, Roberts said.
Main Street executive director Lisa Newman resigned during the year, and Deb Ford replaced her, he said.
Since September, Ford has spent about 500 hours undergoing training, filing required reports with the state, serving as public relations director and working with four committees and the board of directors, Roberts said.
”2010 will be a great year,” Roberts said.
Building on its success in attracting a new pharmacy, Main Street wants to bring in more businesses to fill empty storefronts in the Main Street district, and to develop Route 150, he said.
The group also has ideas for redesigning Fourth Street, Roberts said.
To finance all of this, Main Street wants to apply for more grants, and to obtain help in writing the applications, he said.
Main Street wants to start a Welcome Wagon program, Roberts said. The Orion area no longer has a Chamber of Commerce to provide the service for new residents.
For the first time, the movie-and-music program will have a double feature, he said.
Looking farther ahead, Roberts said the organization already is planning the centennial celebration of the band shell in 2013.
Renovating the band shell in time for the Orion sesquicentennial in 2003 was the first big project for the new Main Street Orion, he said.
Main Street Orion has asked the village board to include $10,000 for Main Street in the 2010-11 budget, Roberts said.
That shows everyone that the village and Main Street are partners, he told the board.
Trustee Dale “Sarge” Stiles asked if the group had any other funding options, including the state.
“No matter what condition its finances are in, the state has said it will never have money to give Main Street,” Roberts said. The state provides training and design services.
Illinois Main Street expects member programs, such as Orion’s, to support themselves by asking
for village funds, soliciting individual and business memberships, seeking donations and grants, and holding fundraisers, he said.
Main Street Orion does not carry a large bank balance, Roberts said. The group spends as much of its money as possible in Orion.
“We’re giving back to the community,” he told the board.
