By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Downtown Bowling Green won’t be attracting big chain stores or restaurants anytime soon – and that’s just fine with Hallie Williams.
“We’re not like Levis Commons,” Williams, the executive director of Downtown BG, said Thursday to the BG Kiwanis Club. “We’re not going to have a lululemons or major chains.”
What the downtown does have are stores owned by local residents, allowing them to reach their dreams. It has local businesses whose names appear on the back of T-ball jerseys, on school scavenger hunts, and on sponsor lists for community festivals.
As head of Downtown BG, Williams builds on the successes of the Special Improvement District covering street blocks that stretch from Clay to Ordway, and Summit to Church.
“It’s more than Main Street,” she said.
And it’s more than branding the downtown, though that is pretty important, too.
There are many pieces that fit together to make people want to spend time – and money – downtown.
There are the efforts to make the area beautiful, like the 40 hanging baskets and 51 potted planters that gush with colorful flowers. There are the new alleyway projects that have added murals, lighting and archways. And there are the banners that change with the seasons.
“We work really hard to make downtown beautiful,” Williams said.
In the winter, it’s the holiday decorations on the light poles and potted Christmas trees.
“It’s creating the magic,” she said. “We want downtown to be a destination all year long.”
Also making magic are the events scheduled throughout the year downtown – all designed to bring residents, attract visitors, and make BGSU students feel welcome.
“We want to create community,” Williams said.
Those events include annual gatherings such as the ArtWalk, Chocolate Crawl, Firefly Nights, RallyBG, Black Swamp Arts Festival, Homecoming, and Holiday Parade.
Though not magical, the behind the scenes work is also important to the downtown’s vitality, Williams said. The dirty jobs, that often go unrecognized, include cleaning up sidewalks after busy bar nights, fixing of chipped paint, snow removal, leaf removal, and recent efforts to put dumpsters within enclosures.
The biggest crime that Downtown BG has to deal with, Williams said, is vandalism.
“I think I have the coolest job in the world,” she said to the Kiwanis members. “Everybody is willing to work together. There are no roadblocks or ‘old boys clubs’ keeping things from moving ahead.”
Williams’ route to the downtown job started on her Frobose family’s farm near Pemberville, which took her to college in Kansas and Oklahoma, where she met her husband, who is also a farmer. She is now a fifth generation family farmer with her husband.
She told the Kiwanis that yes, that was her in a bathing suit on social media over the Fourth of July weekend, trying to corral their cattle near U.S. 6.
When she took over the downtown position, there were days she questioned her ability to shift from corralling cows to building community.
“I don’t know how to do this – my degree is in cows,” she recalled thinking at one point.
But it turns out that Williams is just as proficient at promoting the downtown.
When she was recently informed of a “nuisance property” with peeling paint at 123 E. Court St., she was told the building is owned by the Downtown BG organization. The building now has a new coat of paint, including an America250 mural on one exterior wall.
Williams said she is always looking for ways to improve the downtown. Underway now are plans to add digital “downtown dollars” to the existing paper dollars. Her organization is also looking at expanding the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) in the downtown.
She encouraged her audience to attend downtown events, and spend dollars shopping and dining downtown.
It may be easier to click on an order from Amazon, “but it’s a lot more fun to shop downtown,” Williams said.
