Main Street to Announce Concert Lineup, Community Planning Session at Annual Meeting and FUNdraiser.

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 25, 2020 at 3:14pm

Jacksonville Main Street will be making several announcements as well as revealing a few surprises at their annual meeting this Thursday evening.

The lineup for the summer concert series has been set, as well as both the volunteer and business of the year for 2019.

Executive Director of Jacksonville Main Street Judy Tighe says that the evening will be full of both information and fun.

Melissa is going to unveil the lineup for the concert series, so that is all in place, and there will be a couple of new surprise recognition’s throughout the evening, and then of course the reverse raffle. We also have a Wall Dog mural that is going up for auction. It was one of the over sized pieces that was auctioned, and the buyer donated it back to us, and it is signed by many of the Wham Bam Mural Jam artists that were here last summer when they did the restoration to our existing murals and created the U.S. Grant mural.”

Proceeds from the evening will go toward funding the concert series and the goal of adding another mural to the collection downtown sometime in the near future.

Tighe says that as the organization begins it’s 21st year in existence, that in many ways, their work for the Jacksonville community is just beginning.

We really are at a point now where there is so much more we can do. A lot of people thought that once the downtown square was put back together, that our work was done. Actually that is where most Main Street organizations first begin, not when everything is upside down and they have this huge elephant in the room that they have to deal with. They usually start when they are trying to increase vibrancy of their downtown, and they are trying to really make that place what attracts people to their community, what attracts businesses to come, and what encourages local entrepreneurs to open businesses, and that is what we are trying to do right now.”

Part of the continuing development of the Jacksonville Main Street program for the future is the announcement of a community planning session that is slated for March.

Tighe says that Jacksonville Main Street is not a club that only a few people can join or take part in. She says that they are always open to new ideas, and the new community planning session is an extension of Main Street’s history of inclusion, to make sure every voice is heard.

Another thing that Main Street has been really well known for is allowing people to take the lead. So we have volunteers from all walks of life across the community who have taken part in projects, and been the leader in projects. Regular people who are not sitting around waiting for someone else to do it. So we often get them involved with more people who have similar ideas, and they develop a project or handle a project all on their own and bring it to fruition.”

Details about the planning session will be shared at the annual meeting and reverse raffle fundraising dinner this Thursday evening. The ticket purchase for the event automatically enters the ticket holder into the reverse raffle drawing. Tighe says there is still time to get one of the few remaining tickets to the event.

We do have a few tickets still available so if you want to call the office and put in your reservation, I can hold them at the door. They can be paid for then or I can invoice you later. It’s going to be a fun evening.”

Tickets are $35.00 each and includes dinner and entry into the reverse raffle. The event starts at 6:00 pm at Hamilton’s 110 North East. To reserve tickets or to find out more information about Jacksonville Main Street, call the office at 245-6884. You can also find the group online at www.jacksonvillemainstreet.com