For Main Street Greencastle, last year was one of transformation as the organization saw a change at the top and produced events that brought numerous people to downtown Greencastle. 

As he closes in on a full year at the helm, Main Street Greencastle executive director Russell Harvey admits the last ten months have been a "whirlwind at times," but one that has helped propel not only him but the organization he oversees into what promises to be an eventful 2024. 

"I was able to make great connections with business owners, building owners and some community stakeholders. We had our First Friday season and that was fantastic and a lot of fun. Overall, for Mainstreet, it was a great 2023. I am so much more comfortable and that is with a lot of trainings I have attended, connections with Indiana Main Street, National Main Street, great board and previous director. Coming into 2024, I am ready to run and a lot more confident," Harvey told The Putnam County Post. 

Harvey said Main Street Greencastle has a few items it will focus on in 2024.

"One of the things will be making sure we are helping and promoting businesses in downtown Greencastle. There is a lot of great history here and we need to make sure we are telling the history. People need to make those connections and really feel that. We are going to reach outside the community and let people know Greencastle is a great destination spot with great music, food, all those types of things. And, we are so thankful to be able to work on some partnerships with the Tenzer Hub and build on partnerships with the Putnam County Chamber and the Putnam County Community Foundation," Harvey said. 

One of the staples of Main Street was the First Friday events, which brought people downtown the first Friday of every month for food, shopping, entertainment and more from May to October.  And while the events were a major success, Harvey notes he is focused on making the events more kid friendly this year and looking at different ways to incorporate events for children. 

In addition, Harvey will look to utilize data gathered through a recent survey to see what Main Street Greencastle can do to to further help downtown and the community. The survey garnered 223 responses from people and identified what people viewed as positives and negatives with Greencastle, downtown and the community, according to Harvey. 

"That was very interesting and eyeopening for me. Some of the things we knew we would find were construction frustration, parking frustration, but we also heard a lot of positives about the city and community, the events we have going on and that was good. Some of the things that were a little more frustrating were when some folks look at downtown, they feel it is empty," Harvey said. 

In addition, Harvey said there were some points raised about business hours and he acknowledges there have been a lot of discussions held with business owners. 

"When we work with small businesses, these are your friends and neighbors who have their own things going on," Harvey said. 

He also said it is important that the community gets out and supports business owners downtown, as the small businesses are the backbone of Greencastle. 

Keeping customers and businesses downtown is of the utmost importance to Harvey, as it helps to not only promote but also bolster a strong community.  

"If we are driving past them to go to another city or go to some of these big box places where we can get the same thing, I don't think we are doing the community any favor and we are certainly not boosting our downtown. I want people to think about that," Harvey said. 

And, Main Street Greencastle looks to not only bring residents downtown, but also reach out to people from other parts of Indiana to see what makes Greencastle great in 2024.