Three new downtown events were announced Thursday at the Main Street Warsaw 2030 Strategic Plan launch party.
Le Diner En Blanc will take place June 12, Duck Cluck and Harvest Festival will be Sept. 13-14 and Downtown Fashion Weekend is scheduled for Oct. 4-5.
Before unveiling those, the community heard from Main Street Warsaw (MSW) representatives about how the 2030 Strategic Plan came about, the vision of the plan and how it will continue to shape the downtown.
Juli Eckel, MSW Board chair, said, “We’re excited about the downtown Warsaw 2030 Strategic Plan, and we have an exciting presentation.”
MSW started as an association back in 1976 by a group of businessmen who wanted to improve the downtown. They wanted to see vacant buildings be filled, dilapidated buildings be repaired and to grow downtown Warsaw, she said. From there, in 1980, an official nonprofit organization was started - Warsaw Community Development Corp. - changing its names in 2021 to MSW.
“Main Street Warsaw’s mission is to develop, manage, market and program downtown to create a vibrant place on behalf of downtown stakeholders, the regional community and more than 10 partnering organizations,” Eckel stated. “Our mission area is the downtown (Commercial-4) district, but as our downtown district grows, so will the area that we serve.”
It’s hoped the downtown will expand north on Buffalo Street to connect the downtown to Center Lake.
Developing the 2030 Strategic Plan began in June 2024 when MSW Board committees began meeting to “review previous plans and they developed a strategic itemized list of things they wanted to do to help implement the plan that was in place,” Eckel continued.
In August 2024, there was a board retreat and a public open house with 100 people in attendance. Before the open house, MSW reached out to the community with a survey and received over 300 responses on what the community felt MSW should be doing in the downtown.
“Equally exciting as all that input is, the program implementation plan that we have already made as we have here tonight is our launch party. I’m so excited that we get to share the plan with you this evening,” she concluded.
Terry Sweeney, MSW downtown development director, explained why a strategic plan was needed.
“There’s a reason, and that is that in the last 18 months there’s been a number of planning processes that have affected downtown and tried to map out the priorities for downtown. And we were tasked with implementing those plans, and so we decided that we needed to really get together and assimilate those plans and put them into one actionable work plan for the organization, so we make sure we get things done,” he said.

    Terry Sweeney, Main Street Warsaw downtown development director, goes through the 2030 Strategic Plan Thursday for downtown Warsaw. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

Stakeholders had continued input as the planning process moved forward.
Explaining why downtown, Sweeney said, “Downtown is the heartbeat and the front door to the community, and its success makes a statement about the vitality of our city. More importantly, downtown is an economic anchor that supports city and county government, generates significant economic activity and is one of our best quality-of-life assets, and therefore important to talent retention and recruitment.”
Additionally, the downtown is also a regional civic, cultural and quality-of-life center and an economic engine, he continued. The downtown is home to city and county government.
“Downtown also has the highest concentration of cultural and quality-of-life assets and jobs in the county and one of the highest concentrations of new projects in the pipeline, and that’s also why the downtown is important,” Sweeney said.
On to the 20-page plan, he said he wanted to present MSW’s vision and some of the key strategies, along with the progress they made on implementing the plan already.
“This is not a plan that sits on the shelf and causes you to wonder whatever happened to that plan. This is our playbook and we are committed to implementing its priorities,” Sweeney said.
He talked about key strategies that MSW will pursue, including obtaining National Main Street accreditation and become a leading member of the Indiana Main Street network.
On that, Sarah Froderman, West Central community liaison with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), spoke.
“We use Main Street Warsaw as a representation and as an example to our Main Streets throughout the state,” she said. “We have three main levels, and we use them as an example for each level because of the progress you guys have made. Because of the dedication you have. Because of the representation you have.”
She encouraged MSW to keep with the momentum because they’re a “force to be reckoned with.”
She concluded by telling everyone to keep an eye out next month for some announcements on progress that Main Streets are having.
Sweeney touched on MSW’s property improvement grant program and a revolving loan program.
With the city’s financial contribution, in 2024 nearly $50,000 in grants was awarded for property improvements, which created $400,000 in new building investments. This year, they’ve awarded $43,000 and exceeded that $400,000 mark.
Another key strategy is to make the downtown a state-certified Indiana Cultural District, so MSW is partnering with the Public Arts Commission and Designing Local to lead them through the cultural district development plan. The process will begin in April and go through June.
Moving on to events and programming, he talked about how Third Fridays - formerly First Fridays - have been bringing people to downtown Warsaw for years.
“We’ve been working with our downtown stakeholders and private sector partners to develop and host a set of weekly, monthly and annual events that will create an additional 40 event days, highlighting our businesses, the arts and making the downtown the community’s living room,” Sweeney said. “We project these events will attract - keep your fingers crossed - 20,000 people to downtown and support more than 50 artists.”
Monthly events include Coffee Klatch, with a new iteration kicking off March 12 and programming featuring music from local artists during the event; and the launch of Sip ‘n Shop Fridays, starting in April, to highlight merchants. Artists and music also will be featured during Sip ‘n Shop.
Sweeney then revealed the three new annual events.
Le Diner En Blanc will be presented by G & G Hauling & Excavating. The June 12 event will take place in the downtown streets with long white tables lined up, and a cocktail party on the courthouse lawn. Dinner will be provided by five downtown restaurants. The menu will vary, along with the price range.
Duck Cluck and Harvest Festival will be presented by Maple Leaf Farms and Creighton Brothers. The county’s leadership in culinary products and ag business will be highlighted in a “fun and family-friendly way.” The Sept. 13-14 event is still in development.
Finally, Downtown Fashion Weekend will feature four boutiques Oct. 4-5, sponsored by Toyota of Warsaw. That Saturday will feature a runway show, an after-party and the cast of Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts will provide a jazz lounge/cabaret type of event. Those who attend the runway show will get special discounts at the shops the next day.
The year will close out with the return of the All Is Bright Christmas celebration, kicking off Thanksgiving weekend.
After highlighting media partners who will help get the word out about the events, Sweeney stated, “We are very excited to be working together to implement the Downtown Warsaw 2030 Strategic Plan, making the downtown the community’s living room.”