mainstreeter

I would love to see a fresh market that could service the downtown workers for lunch and people who are starting to live downtown at night and weekends. I used to live on Main St and it always killed me I couldn't grab some basic foods. Maybe with all the new residential it will bring in some more basic services.

Support our Main Street Contemporaries Equinox Rox pARTy Concert Series Thursday Sept 15th, 29th & Oct 13th 6 to 9pm at the plaza in front of the Columbia Museum of Art Live music, drinks, and food!

Support Main Street Upcoming Events Moonlight Movies on Main: September 16 and October 14 Mark your calendars now for City Center Partnership

The BID does several things I know of and probably a lot more. They have the clean and safe team which you will see wearing yellow shirts around the downtown area. They will help people with directions, keep homeless from sleeping in common area, escort people to places if the people feel threatened, and keep downtown clean. They help the recruitment of companies coming to downtown. I know they played a critical role in bringing the insurance co Trumbell Services to Main St. Promotional events like the Magnolia Market, Movies on Main, and I know they are helping out with the car show on Main St the weekend of Aug 20th. I am sure if you contact them they could provide you with a list of what they do. The website for the BID is www.citycentercolumbia.sc Now here is a few more ideas: How about a sporting event or tournament downtown with proceeds going to a charity. Ideas such as a wiffle ball tournament, street soccer, go-cart races in the street (Bloomington, Indiana has a killer race), or maybe a beach volleyball tournament if you could get the sand out pretty easy. This would attract families and people from other areas of the state. Half the battle with Columbia is it still percieved as it was in the early 1990's. It is far from being great but it is getting better.

Cool Ideas colajnp

The whole business district is North of the state house. Don't forget there is the The Columbia Museum of Art Some good lunch time places such as: Atlanta Bread Company Greek Boys (on Hampton) M Cafe (Sumter)

How about a good old fashion General Store like the one in Greenville. That would be a great draw for locals and visitors. The one in Greenville and Ashville is http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/ That would continue the momentum for Main St and would add a lot

Any city you go to, you go to the heart of the city (Main St) and that usually tells you how the city is doing. This is not necessarily true in Columbia because I believe it is moving in a positive direction but Main St is dead after 5pm. Problem is perception is reality and visitors not always think about Columbia in a positive way due to the lack of things to do in the center city. What do you think the goal of private and public money should go towards on Main Street? What kind of retail should be brought on Main St? What kind of festivals and or events? I would love to hear some ideas and maybe actually work to accomplish some of them.