Community efforts bring Downtown to life again

By Kendra Simpson

Recently, Downtown St. Joseph has become a hot spot for entertainment, eclectic restaurants, family friendly activities all encompassed by a rich history. But what’s considered a center for community today was not always this lively.

For many St. Joseph residents, memories of Downtown are limited, since there weren’t many shops, restaurants or sights to explore. But within the last decade, several boutiques, bars and restaurants have set up shop, bringing new life to the deserted area.

Ron Barbosa, current Chairman for the St. Joseph Downtown Community Improvement District, said these changes have actually been slowly coming to life since the 1980’s with the work done by the Downtown Association, an organization composed of local business owners.

“The other portion of it, too, is the individual businesses that are downtown,” Barbosa said. “These people are entrepreneurs. They have a faith in the downtown and they want to establish their business.”

Because of the faith of these local entrepreneurs, the Downtown Community Improvement District was established in 2011 as a special taxing district to improve the Downtown area for them. The organization works on a funding provided by a half cent sales tax and a property tax equivalent to 50 cents per $100 of property valuation.

“We average probably $130,000 a year from that and we put that in again for economic development entertainment districts,” Barbosa said. “We also assist those folks that purchase properties downtown or make improvements downtown. We have a program that we give grants to supplement their investment. And even in the past three or four years, we’ve seen some improvements downtown to that has been very, very positive.”

This is where the ball started rolling. With the provided funding, the Community Improvement District was able to fund events that bring people Downtown, such as the Downtown Holiday Experience, Sculpture Walk and the summer concert series Sounds of Summer. The organization also actively supports testaments to the Downtown area such as the Missouri Theater and the recently reopened Trail Theater.

“Incrementally over the years I see a lot of positive things going on in downtown,” Barbosa said. “But unless you’re really there and looking at it, it doesn’t show as much. But you have to be understand that it’s an incremental thing.”

With the help of the Community Improvement District, Downtown was starting to see a resurgence, but it still needed help along the way. In 2021, Main Street America had arrived to provide that assistance.

The Main Street program has succeeded in helping a number of historic cities for over 40 years by organizing and connecting the downtown groups, but the program is only successful if the community is willing to put in the effort. Dana Ekstrum, former president of Main Street St. Joseph and current owner of the Downtown shop Manic Snail, emphasized the need for community involvement and cooperation to revitalize Downtown.

“Generating community support has been a huge part of it because without volunteers and community engagement and people who love the Downtown are willing to give their time and money to it, these efforts are not sustainable,” Ekstrum said.

With many town hall meetings, strategizing sessions and several W.I.G.s, or wildly important goals, Main Street St. Joseph kicked off. Dozens of new businesses opened up Downtown, bringing more foot traffic and recognition of the historic area.

“If you haven’t been Downtown in a number of years or even in the last year, you’d be surprised to see the fun new shops that have popped up,” Ekstrum said. “We have a new bookstore Downtown that was a big wish list item. Three years ago from the community was ‘We want a bookstore’. The momentum and the energy that is present now is a very exciting thing. So if you haven’t been Downtown, definitely come Downtown.”

Ekstrum, who has lived in St. Joseph for the past 12 years, said there are a number of noticeable changes from the time she moved here to today.

”I think if you were in downtown ten years ago and then snapped your fingers and you were in downtown, now you would see a lot more color, you’d see more murals, you’d definitely see more businesses,” Ekstrum said. “And just this year, (there have been) a number of exterior improvements to some of our historic buildings through the grant programs that our city has been awarded (through) the ARPA grants. We’ve seen new awnings go up. We’ve seen new colorful signage. And it’s just been a really exciting time just in the last year, the number of improvements and energy.”

Downtown St. Joseph continues to evolve with the help of Main Street St. Joseph, the Downtown Community Improvement District and the Downtown Association. But only with community support and activism can it truly thrive.

“The community that we all want to see and that we all want to grow requires all of us to be a part of that from our elected officials to the average citizen,” Ekstrum said. “Everybody has an opinion on what they would like to see here, and it’s going to take all of us to build that together and to sustain it together for not only this generation, but the generations to come.”

To help bring life to Downtown, St. Joseph residents and visitors can visit any of the several local businesses in the area. A map with all bars, restaurants and shops can be found at www.downtownstjoemo.com/directory.

To apply for a grant application through the Community Improvement District, visit their website at www.downtownstjoemo.com/community/community-improvement-district.

To keep up with Main Street St. Joseph, their initiatives and input sessions, visit the organization’s blog at mainstreetstj.blogspot.com.