August 6, 2025 • 20 mins
Season 1, Episode 18: In this episode of Indy Unplugged, Indianola Main Street Executive Director Erica Roberts joins us and discusses a variety of exciting topics, such as:
Previewing Downtown Dough Day on August 7 – an innovative incentive where up to $60,000 will be spent at local businesses in the downtown district.
Looking ahead to Indianola Main Street's annual fundraiser, dinner and celebration on August 21.
Highlighting the community events happening later this year that it organizes including Wine, Witches and Brew as well as Home for the Holidays.
Providing updates and developments from the organization as it completes its first year as a Main Street community.
Fast-forward to a specific topic covered:- 00:00: Intro
- 00:42: Welcome
- 01:47: On Looking Back to Early Beginning
- 02:43: Downtown Dough Initiative
- 10:00: On Upcoming Annual Dinner & Celebration
- 12:23: On Other Upcoming Events
- 15:00: On Downtown Facade Improvements
- 17:36: Final Thoughts & Closing Remarks
To learn more about Indianola Main Street, its upcoming events and opportunities to get involved, please visit: https://indianolamainstreet.com/
To view an interactive map of the revitalization efforts of the Indianola Downtown Square, please visit: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1c182100d2b840589078ecd8cde28a14
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:42):
Welcome back to another episode of IndyUnplugged, a City of Indianola podcast
And it's been almost a year since we lastspoke with Erica Roberts of
Indianola Main Street.
And they've got a lot of things in storefor Indianola as we round out 2025.
Erica, how are you doing today?
Thanks so muchfor joining us on this episode.
(01:02):
I'm doing great.Thank you so much for having me.
Well, you're definitely a busy personright now because you're packing up
and getting ready to leave and head outto the, annual downtown conference
there, in downtown Muscatine, tomorrow
and Wednesday, August 5th and August 6th.
Are you excited for that?
What's the conference like?
(01:23):
Yeah. It's exciting.
First year in Muscatine.
Looking forwardto some of the breakout sessions.
And as always, I love networking
with the other executive directorsfrom Iowa.
And, it's a great chancefor us to get together,
visit a little bit, talk aboutwhat is going on in our communities.
And we always seem to learn somethingfrom one another
(01:44):
that we can bring back to our communities.
That's awesome.
And it's hard to believethat it's been almost a year or almost
I mean, practically a year to the dayof when Indianola was announced
to be, become an Indianola,a Main Street, Iowa community.
What has this past year
I mean, it's definitely been a rideand it's gone by very quickly.
(02:07):
Year one definitely knewwe would be structuring the program.
I feel like we have done a great job,myself working with the board
as, as a teamand getting the structure put together
and really, you know,focusing on our downtown businesses
that we haveand making sure that everybody
(02:28):
is getting in a good placewithin their own businesses.
And now we start, reaching some of those goals
that that we set about ten months ago.
And we finally did a kind of diveinto the nitty gritty of those.
Well, and one of those goals, reallyone of those initiatives is giving back
to the local businesses.
And there is an exciting promotionand exciting initiative
(02:51):
that any little Main Street in you,especially in your role, have led over
the course of these past few weekswith Downtown Dough.
Tell listeners a little bit more aboutDowntown Dough and what it all entails.
Yeah.
Downtown Dough, we are so excited aboutprobably definitely
one of the biggest incentives,to date that we've done downtown.
And the method behind it was that, the public was able to purchase
(03:16):
downtown gift certificatesfrom Indianola Main Street,
and in return, we matched those giftcertificates, amount amounts.
So we actually have, and sold
$60,000 worth of gift certificatesthat are going
to go directly into our business ownerspockets.
(03:37):
One day only just adds to the excitementand momentum leading up.
And that is our big dayis Thursday, August 7th.
started out as $30,000 going into the
the pockets or into the stores of our,downtown district businesses.
But it grew and grew to $60,000
(03:58):
because the demand was just so exactly.
We ended up selling, out of our
our first, batch,if you will, was that you are correct.
At $30,000. In about two hours.
We had some incredible sponsors throughsome friends of Main Street and True Bank.
And because they sold so quickly,we decided to do a second
(04:20):
round, doubling, the investment.
And we were able to change that
from 30 to $60,000 very quickly.
And again, sold out.
In all togetherit was a matter of about six hours.
Were you surprised by by those goalsor by those numbers quickly selling out?
(04:42):
Did this did this initiativeand how it performed so far?
As you head into downtowntoday, has it surpassed your
Oh, it's definitely surpassedmy expectations.
We knew going into this,this was going to be a bit experimental.
Focus being onwhat could we do to drive traffic.
And really kind of knock itout of the park.
(05:02):
I, you know, I had a feelingit was going to be a big incentive.
It was going to be exciting.
We had done, you know,quite a bit of buildup leading into this,
but surpassed our expectations is probablyan understatement.
Never thought they would sell out
quite that fast,but obviously thrilled with the result.
And what, lies ahead of us for Thursday,August 7th?
(05:24):
It's going to be absolutely incredible.
And I would agreeit's going to be absolutely incredible.
And I'm looking at the, the latestFacebook post from Indianola, main Street.
And I'm going to hone in specificallyon the second point of the imagine post,
and it says, imagine the differencewe are about to make in the impact
of what happens when a community comestogether to support our local businesses.
(05:47):
What does that kind of verbiage meanto you as we approach Downtown Dough Day?
I think that was, sort of my summaryfor really what we wanted
this entire incentive to be.
And it was, everybody coming together.
And this wasthis was a collaborative effort.
I mean, you had from those,you know, buying,
(06:09):
you know, the gift certificates themselvesto the businesses getting on board
and becoming, participants of this.
And then, of course, the,the investor dollars that went into it.
So I felt like it was justa lot of different parts of the community
coming together, and really supportinglocal, which is the emphasis
(06:30):
for everything that we are focusing onas far as Main Street goes at this time.
So it it just was a very eye for, for us,a heartfelt message, you know, that
we can accomplish really great thingswhen so many of us come together.
Oh, I agree especially I mean communitypartners like Main Street,
Indianola Chamber,the Warren County Economic Development.
(06:52):
I mean, everybody helps play a partand and everything that we do,
not just in the district,but across Indianola, for sure.
Where did this idea for Downtown Doughcome from?
Yeah.
It was it actually just started outas a simple conversation, with, you know,
a good friend of annual on Main Street,both of us having concerns on, you know,
(07:13):
how could we, especiallythis particular time of year where
sometimes foottraffic can be a little light?
And we said, how how do we drive people,you know, through those doors?
And, we kind of took the approach of,
look, we were going to do this big andwe were going to see how it worked out.
(07:33):
The, the first go around.
And so it it really sparkedfrom just kind of a great conversation.
The idea was sort of planted.
And then it was sort of like,okay, now you run with that,
see what you can come up with.
And it, you know, took several days
of putting everything together,how we were going to make this work.
(07:54):
What could the impact be?
And after several days of kind ofgoing through this thing, you know, poking
all the holes in it that we could and, and doing a little bit of trial and error
that that downtown was really born,and, and took off.
And so far, like I said, the responsehave has just been absolutely amazing.
(08:16):
And practically all the businesseswithin the downtown district
are participating on this downtowndough day. Right.
So individuals got their, presale,
gift cards in advance ahead of, August 7th.
I mean, there's a full list of thoseparticipating stores for those gift cards.
Can be utilized, right, right.
There's 33 businesses,that are participating, for this year's
(08:41):
downtown goal.
We we focused in on, retail foodand beverage for this one.
So and as time goes by, we will dodifferent support local campaigns.
You know, as as everybody knows,
we have a lot of different typesof businesses in our downtown.
But for this particular one,looking at retail, food and beverage,
(09:01):
so have a list of 33 great businessesthere
that are going to take part in this one.
Like you said too,
this is the first opportunitythat's been brought to Indianola.
You're experimenting.
You're seeing what works,what doesn't work.
I would say this probably definitelyknocked it out of the park.
So job
well done to you and the IndianolaMain Street crew for putting this together.
(09:23):
And of course, the support of our businessowners and everyone involved
with the, downtown district for sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we are so appreciative to those
who have taken part in this,you know, as a team and, you know,
Main Street has worked really hardtogether to get this thing off the ground.
And, so far, so good.
(09:43):
We will, you know,definitely learned some things, as we go
and, hopefully tweak it, you know, ajust a bit for, for in the future,
but just a really great opportunityfor us to learn
and for our downtown businessesto benefit in a really big
Switching gears
now, it's hard to believe againthat it's been almost a year of and,
(10:05):
you know, Main Streetbeing a full fledged organization
and the board is getting readyto celebrate its one year
anniversary with the 5:00 somewhereannual celebration and dinner.
Tell us a little bit more about that eventand what it all entails.
Yes, we wanted to theme our annual dinnerthis year.
We wanted to make it really funand lighthearted.
(10:25):
But yet, you know, raised good moneyfor a really great program.
So we decided to do it's 5:00 somewhere,
and this is going to be heldat Simpson College, Hubbell Hall.
And this is going to be not onlyour one year celebration celebrating
the small businesses in our district,but it is our annual fundraiser.
(10:46):
So we have a packed, awesome auction
that we will be doing that evening.
That includes a really fundessert auction, which is something
that we haven't done before,but just looking forward to everybody
coming together.
Our community partners,our small businesses, our investors,
and of course, everybody from our team in attendance.
(11:08):
And so just looking forward
to a great night of celebrating IndianolaMain Street.
So you talked about the theme of 5:00somewhere.
So we're expecting yourself, Barry Green,the president of Main Street,
and all the other board membersto be wearing their, you know,
best Hawaiian shirtsand Jimmy Buffett attire.
Is it kind of like that or what'swhat's the evening
(11:30):
really going to look likefrom that standpoint? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we want everybody inin their best island attire, if you will.
So just have fun with the theme, to gohome and not have to get all dressed up.
This was a great alternative. No doubt.
I'm sure Barry will take the cake
as far as outfit goes, per usual,but we are just yes, calm.
(11:51):
Comfortable.
This is a night to have a good timeand if people want to purchase
tickets,still tickets are still available, right?
Tickets are still available.
We're down to about 40 ticketsis all we have remaining.
You can get on our Facebook pageon our website.
There's a ticket link there.
You can also,you have access to physical tickets
(12:12):
from myself or any of the board membersif you would like to purchase that way.
And then you can also reserve,a table for the evening
if you would like to go that route.
So we've got downtown today on August 7th.
We've got and, you know, Main streets, annual celebration
and dinner on August 21st.
What are some of the other upcoming eventsand opportunities that Indianola
(12:35):
main Street is organizingas we round out, 2025?
Yeah.
You're going to see two very familiarevents that Indianola Main Street puts on.
One being wine, witches and brews.
And that will take place October 24th.
And then you've got home for the holidays,which for those of you
that attended last yearended up being a really magical night.
(12:56):
You know, for our community,a lot of people came down.
We celebrated together,and that is going to be November 22nd.
So two, like I said of our prettywell known events,
that are very well attendedand bring our people from,
you know, all over our communityand outside our community as well.
(13:16):
So we are really looking forward, to our two
biggest events of the yearand definitely two of my favorites.
Yeah.
And with wine, which is and brews
those tickets usually sell outfairly quickly like within minutes.
Right. Correct.
So those tickets will launchSeptember 1st.
And as usual, the VIP ticketsI think have both years
(13:39):
that we have offeredthe VIP experience in those tickets.
They've they've sold out within minutes.
But we, we tend to be above
that thousand attendee mark each year,hoping to continue to grow it.
But yes, you are going to want to get onand get your tickets right away.
(13:59):
When those are releasedand then home for the holidays,
this will be the second go aroundwhere it's happening in November.
And that's mainly due to the successof how phenomenal last year's event went.
Yeah.
We were looking for,a little bit better weather conditions.
And also kind of kicking off
the holiday season,instead of having it mid-season.
(14:22):
So we experimented with that a little bit
last yearby, by trying to do this in November.
It worked out fantastic.
And so we are going to continue,
to hold our home for the holidaysevent in November.
Even the feedback from the communitywas they really enjoyed
having that event held, to kick off the holiday season.
(14:43):
So we're going to do it again.
That's awesome. Listeners,make sure you mark your calendars.
Remember those dates.
We'll include them
in the podcast description of this episodewherever you're listening.
So all those details, those related links,they'll be available for you.
So no worries there.
Erica, before we wrap up, I also want tojust touch base real quickly.
There's some positive momentumthat's, happening right now
(15:08):
again, with the downtown facadeimprovements, where
at the most recent council meeting,on July 21st,
there were some new developmentswhere the company that will start
making those improvementswith those eight downtown facades,
was approvedand that those next steps are underway.
Can you just kind of highlight,
again, kind of recapwhere we're at currently with that project
(15:31):
and what some of those next
Yeah.
Right now, as you said, that council have has approved
this has been a project, you know,almost a couple of years in the making.
This is part of a very widegrant program for facades.
We have eight buildingsthat are going to get, brand new facades.
(15:52):
The exciting part for us is going back, to one of the foundations of and,
you know, on Main Street,which is historical preservation.
So you're going to see,the fronts of these buildings,
if you will sort of be peeled back.
And what you are going to be left with is,
you know, preserving what they once were.
And so that is what I'm most excitedabout, to look at these facades.
(16:17):
As they were intended to be and,
and reser preserved back to, to that era.
So I think this is going to be hugefor our downtown.
I think these buildingsare going to look fantastic.
It is so exciting to finallybe getting this much closer
to, breakingground on such a great grant program.
(16:38):
So look to see some interesting thingsdefinitely taking place.
We expect that this projectwill probably go until May of next year.
Weather permitting, of course.
But we are really, really excitedabout what we're about to see.
Exactly.
And there'sa interactive kind of timeline,
(16:58):
if you will, that the City of Athenahas available on its website.
Listeners will be sure to includea link to that map
and that interactive, elementas well, for you to engage in.
And of course, will continueto share updates in partnership with Erica
and and in our main streetas the downtown facade and revitalization
efforts continue to progress in the monthsahead, also check our pages.
(17:20):
And we're going to we're goingto be showcasing some progress,
photos and different things like thaton each one of the buildings,
just to give you guys who don't, you know,get down here a lot.
A great sneak peek of the progressthroughout the next few months,
and it should be really exciting.
Well, before we wrap,I just want to open up the floor
for you to share any final thoughtsor closing remarks?
(17:41):
Well, I just want to thank everybodywho's been involved with Main Street.
We've had some workshops along the wayand have met new people
that have gotten on boardand helped volunteer with us.
We've had a tremendous amount of supportand, you know,
and probably most excitedabout Main Street at this point
where we're at right now, because nowwe're starting to see action take place.
(18:04):
We're starting to see some new excitingthings happen within Main Street.
That is giving it a ton of momentum.
And you look at things like DowntownDough, our annual dinner coming up.
These are big milestones for usand big things to happen.
So it definitely makes the 12 monthsof hard work
(18:24):
for myself and the IndianolaMain Street board, extremely rewarding.
So thank you to thosewho have supported us this whole time
and been patient with us as we weregetting this program, up and on its feet.
And we are so excitedfor the year ahead and volunteer driven.
I mean, all the board membersand and the absolutely
(18:45):
committee members as well,that support the board of directors.
It's it's really cool.
And I'm one of those board of directorsas well.
And it's really cooljust to be surrounded by,
a large group of people who are committedto, putting just their best foot
forwardfor the sake of our downtown district,
because what we do here impactsthe greater good of Indianola and beyond.
(19:08):
And those impacts are felt through everysingle citizen, every every single visitor
So it really is cool that this is,very much a volunteer driven effort.
is it absolutely is.
And, I mean, I realize I'm biased, but
we have the greatest team network togetherevery single week.
We work hard.
This is a working board.
(19:28):
These are hard working volunteersand definitely blessed to have for sure.
Well, Erika,
thank you again so much for joining uson this episode of Indy Unplugged.
Listeners, as always,make sure you leave us a comment.
Leave us a review.
This helpsmake sure that we're hitting the mark
with every single episodethat we're putting out of Indy Unplugged,
and we're just a few more episodesleft into season one.
(19:52):
We'll probably have maybe 1to 2 more episodes before we wrap season
one officiallyand relaunch, Indy Unplugged.
Sometime in early 2026.
And who knows, maybe the next time you'llbe a future guest of Indy Unplugged.
Welcome back to another episode of IndyUnplugged, a City of Indianola podcast
And it's been almost a year since we lastspoke with Erica Roberts of
Indianola Main Street.
And they've got a lot of things in storefor Indianola as we round out 2025.
Erica, how are you doing today?
Thanks so muchfor joining us on this episode.
(01:02):
I'm doing great.Thank you so much for having me.
Well, you're definitely a busy personright now because you're packing up
and getting ready to leave and head outto the, annual downtown conference
there, in downtown Muscatine, tomorrow
and Wednesday, August 5th and August 6th.
Are you excited for that?
What's the conference like?
(01:23):
Yeah. It's exciting.
First year in Muscatine.
Looking forwardto some of the breakout sessions.
And as always, I love networking
with the other executive directorsfrom Iowa.
And, it's a great chancefor us to get together,
visit a little bit, talk aboutwhat is going on in our communities.
And we always seem to learn somethingfrom one another
(01:44):
that we can bring back to our communities.
That's awesome.
And it's hard to believethat it's been almost a year or almost
I mean, practically a year to the dayof when Indianola was announced
to be, become an Indianola,a Main Street, Iowa community.
What has this past year
I mean, it's definitely been a rideand it's gone by very quickly.
(02:07):
Year one definitely knewwe would be structuring the program.
I feel like we have done a great job,myself working with the board
as, as a teamand getting the structure put together
and really, you know,focusing on our downtown businesses
that we haveand making sure that everybody
(02:28):
is getting in a good placewithin their own businesses.
And now we start, reaching some of those goals
that that we set about ten months ago.
And we finally did a kind of diveinto the nitty gritty of those.
Well, and one of those goals, reallyone of those initiatives is giving back
to the local businesses.
And there is an exciting promotionand exciting initiative
(02:51):
that any little Main Street in you,especially in your role, have led over
the course of these past few weekswith Downtown Dough.
Tell listeners a little bit more aboutDowntown Dough and what it all entails.
Yeah.
Downtown Dough, we are so excited aboutprobably definitely
one of the biggest incentives,to date that we've done downtown.
And the method behind it was that, the public was able to purchase
(03:16):
downtown gift certificatesfrom Indianola Main Street,
and in return, we matched those giftcertificates, amount amounts.
So we actually have, and sold
$60,000 worth of gift certificatesthat are going
to go directly into our business ownerspockets.
(03:37):
One day only just adds to the excitementand momentum leading up.
And that is our big dayis Thursday, August 7th.
started out as $30,000 going into the
the pockets or into the stores of our,downtown district businesses.
But it grew and grew to $60,000
(03:58):
because the demand was just so exactly.
We ended up selling, out of our
our first, batch,if you will, was that you are correct.
At $30,000. In about two hours.
We had some incredible sponsors throughsome friends of Main Street and True Bank.
And because they sold so quickly,we decided to do a second
(04:20):
round, doubling, the investment.
And we were able to change that
from 30 to $60,000 very quickly.
And again, sold out.
In all togetherit was a matter of about six hours.
Were you surprised by by those goalsor by those numbers quickly selling out?
(04:42):
Did this did this initiativeand how it performed so far?
As you head into downtowntoday, has it surpassed your
Oh, it's definitely surpassedmy expectations.
We knew going into this,this was going to be a bit experimental.
Focus being onwhat could we do to drive traffic.
And really kind of knock itout of the park.
(05:02):
I, you know, I had a feelingit was going to be a big incentive.
It was going to be exciting.
We had done, you know,quite a bit of buildup leading into this,
but surpassed our expectations is probablyan understatement.
Never thought they would sell out
quite that fast,but obviously thrilled with the result.
And what, lies ahead of us for Thursday,August 7th?
(05:24):
It's going to be absolutely incredible.
And I would agreeit's going to be absolutely incredible.
And I'm looking at the, the latestFacebook post from Indianola, main Street.
And I'm going to hone in specificallyon the second point of the imagine post,
and it says, imagine the differencewe are about to make in the impact
of what happens when a community comestogether to support our local businesses.
(05:47):
What does that kind of verbiage meanto you as we approach Downtown Dough Day?
I think that was, sort of my summaryfor really what we wanted
this entire incentive to be.
And it was, everybody coming together.
And this wasthis was a collaborative effort.
I mean, you had from those,you know, buying,
(06:09):
you know, the gift certificates themselvesto the businesses getting on board
and becoming, participants of this.
And then, of course, the,the investor dollars that went into it.
So I felt like it was justa lot of different parts of the community
coming together, and really supportinglocal, which is the emphasis
(06:30):
for everything that we are focusing onas far as Main Street goes at this time.
So it it just was a very eye for, for us,a heartfelt message, you know, that
we can accomplish really great thingswhen so many of us come together.
Oh, I agree especially I mean communitypartners like Main Street,
Indianola Chamber,the Warren County Economic Development.
(06:52):
I mean, everybody helps play a partand and everything that we do,
not just in the district,but across Indianola, for sure.
Where did this idea for Downtown Doughcome from?
Yeah.
It was it actually just started outas a simple conversation, with, you know,
a good friend of annual on Main Street,both of us having concerns on, you know,
(07:13):
how could we, especiallythis particular time of year where
sometimes foottraffic can be a little light?
And we said, how how do we drive people,you know, through those doors?
And, we kind of took the approach of,
look, we were going to do this big andwe were going to see how it worked out.
(07:33):
The, the first go around.
And so it it really sparkedfrom just kind of a great conversation.
The idea was sort of planted.
And then it was sort of like,okay, now you run with that,
see what you can come up with.
And it, you know, took several days
of putting everything together,how we were going to make this work.
(07:54):
What could the impact be?
And after several days of kind ofgoing through this thing, you know, poking
all the holes in it that we could and, and doing a little bit of trial and error
that that downtown was really born,and, and took off.
And so far, like I said, the responsehave has just been absolutely amazing.
(08:16):
And practically all the businesseswithin the downtown district
are participating on this downtowndough day. Right.
So individuals got their, presale,
gift cards in advance ahead of, August 7th.
I mean, there's a full list of thoseparticipating stores for those gift cards.
Can be utilized, right, right.
There's 33 businesses,that are participating, for this year's
(08:41):
downtown goal.
We we focused in on, retail foodand beverage for this one.
So and as time goes by, we will dodifferent support local campaigns.
You know, as as everybody knows,
we have a lot of different typesof businesses in our downtown.
But for this particular one,looking at retail, food and beverage,
(09:01):
so have a list of 33 great businessesthere
that are going to take part in this one.
Like you said too,
this is the first opportunitythat's been brought to Indianola.
You're experimenting.
You're seeing what works,what doesn't work.
I would say this probably definitelyknocked it out of the park.
So job
well done to you and the IndianolaMain Street crew for putting this together.
(09:23):
And of course, the support of our businessowners and everyone involved
with the, downtown district for sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we are so appreciative to those
who have taken part in this,you know, as a team and, you know,
Main Street has worked really hardtogether to get this thing off the ground.
And, so far, so good.
(09:43):
We will, you know,definitely learned some things, as we go
and, hopefully tweak it, you know, ajust a bit for, for in the future,
but just a really great opportunityfor us to learn
and for our downtown businessesto benefit in a really big
Switching gears
now, it's hard to believe againthat it's been almost a year of and,
(10:05):
you know, Main Streetbeing a full fledged organization
and the board is getting readyto celebrate its one year
anniversary with the 5:00 somewhereannual celebration and dinner.
Tell us a little bit more about that eventand what it all entails.
Yes, we wanted to theme our annual dinnerthis year.
We wanted to make it really funand lighthearted.
(10:25):
But yet, you know, raised good moneyfor a really great program.
So we decided to do it's 5:00 somewhere,
and this is going to be heldat Simpson College, Hubbell Hall.
And this is going to be not onlyour one year celebration celebrating
the small businesses in our district,but it is our annual fundraiser.
(10:46):
So we have a packed, awesome auction
that we will be doing that evening.
That includes a really fundessert auction, which is something
that we haven't done before,but just looking forward to everybody
coming together.
Our community partners,our small businesses, our investors,
and of course, everybody from our team in attendance.
(11:08):
And so just looking forward
to a great night of celebrating IndianolaMain Street.
So you talked about the theme of 5:00somewhere.
So we're expecting yourself, Barry Green,the president of Main Street,
and all the other board membersto be wearing their, you know,
best Hawaiian shirtsand Jimmy Buffett attire.
Is it kind of like that or what'swhat's the evening
(11:30):
really going to look likefrom that standpoint? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we want everybody inin their best island attire, if you will.
So just have fun with the theme, to gohome and not have to get all dressed up.
This was a great alternative. No doubt.
I'm sure Barry will take the cake
as far as outfit goes, per usual,but we are just yes, calm.
(11:51):
Comfortable.
This is a night to have a good timeand if people want to purchase
tickets,still tickets are still available, right?
Tickets are still available.
We're down to about 40 ticketsis all we have remaining.
You can get on our Facebook pageon our website.
There's a ticket link there.
You can also,you have access to physical tickets
(12:12):
from myself or any of the board membersif you would like to purchase that way.
And then you can also reserve,a table for the evening
if you would like to go that route.
So we've got downtown today on August 7th.
We've got and, you know, Main streets, annual celebration
and dinner on August 21st.
What are some of the other upcoming eventsand opportunities that Indianola
(12:35):
main Street is organizingas we round out, 2025?
Yeah.
You're going to see two very familiarevents that Indianola Main Street puts on.
One being wine, witches and brews.
And that will take place October 24th.
And then you've got home for the holidays,which for those of you
that attended last yearended up being a really magical night.
(12:56):
You know, for our community,a lot of people came down.
We celebrated together,and that is going to be November 22nd.
So two, like I said of our prettywell known events,
that are very well attendedand bring our people from,
you know, all over our communityand outside our community as well.
(13:16):
So we are really looking forward, to our two
biggest events of the yearand definitely two of my favorites.
Yeah.
And with wine, which is and brews
those tickets usually sell outfairly quickly like within minutes.
Right. Correct.
So those tickets will launchSeptember 1st.
And as usual, the VIP ticketsI think have both years
(13:39):
that we have offeredthe VIP experience in those tickets.
They've they've sold out within minutes.
But we, we tend to be above
that thousand attendee mark each year,hoping to continue to grow it.
But yes, you are going to want to get onand get your tickets right away.
(13:59):
When those are releasedand then home for the holidays,
this will be the second go aroundwhere it's happening in November.
And that's mainly due to the successof how phenomenal last year's event went.
Yeah.
We were looking for,a little bit better weather conditions.
And also kind of kicking off
the holiday season,instead of having it mid-season.
(14:22):
So we experimented with that a little bit
last yearby, by trying to do this in November.
It worked out fantastic.
And so we are going to continue,
to hold our home for the holidaysevent in November.
Even the feedback from the communitywas they really enjoyed
having that event held, to kick off the holiday season.
(14:43):
So we're going to do it again.
That's awesome. Listeners,make sure you mark your calendars.
Remember those dates.
We'll include them
in the podcast description of this episodewherever you're listening.
So all those details, those related links,they'll be available for you.
So no worries there.
Erica, before we wrap up, I also want tojust touch base real quickly.
There's some positive momentumthat's, happening right now
(15:08):
again, with the downtown facadeimprovements, where
at the most recent council meeting,on July 21st,
there were some new developmentswhere the company that will start
making those improvementswith those eight downtown facades,
was approvedand that those next steps are underway.
Can you just kind of highlight,
again, kind of recapwhere we're at currently with that project
(15:31):
and what some of those next
Yeah.
Right now, as you said, that council have has approved
this has been a project, you know,almost a couple of years in the making.
This is part of a very widegrant program for facades.
We have eight buildingsthat are going to get, brand new facades.
(15:52):
The exciting part for us is going back, to one of the foundations of and,
you know, on Main Street,which is historical preservation.
So you're going to see,the fronts of these buildings,
if you will sort of be peeled back.
And what you are going to be left with is,
you know, preserving what they once were.
And so that is what I'm most excitedabout, to look at these facades.
(16:17):
As they were intended to be and,
and reser preserved back to, to that era.
So I think this is going to be hugefor our downtown.
I think these buildingsare going to look fantastic.
It is so exciting to finallybe getting this much closer
to, breakingground on such a great grant program.
(16:38):
So look to see some interesting thingsdefinitely taking place.
We expect that this projectwill probably go until May of next year.
Weather permitting, of course.
But we are really, really excitedabout what we're about to see.
Exactly.
And there'sa interactive kind of timeline,
(16:58):
if you will, that the City of Athenahas available on its website.
Listeners will be sure to includea link to that map
and that interactive, elementas well, for you to engage in.
And of course, will continueto share updates in partnership with Erica
and and in our main streetas the downtown facade and revitalization
efforts continue to progress in the monthsahead, also check our pages.
(17:20):
And we're going to we're goingto be showcasing some progress,
photos and different things like thaton each one of the buildings,
just to give you guys who don't, you know,get down here a lot.
A great sneak peek of the progressthroughout the next few months,
and it should be really exciting.
Well, before we wrap,I just want to open up the floor
for you to share any final thoughtsor closing remarks?
(17:41):
Well, I just want to thank everybodywho's been involved with Main Street.
We've had some workshops along the wayand have met new people
that have gotten on boardand helped volunteer with us.
We've had a tremendous amount of supportand, you know,
and probably most excitedabout Main Street at this point
where we're at right now, because nowwe're starting to see action take place.
(18:04):
We're starting to see some new excitingthings happen within Main Street.
That is giving it a ton of momentum.
And you look at things like DowntownDough, our annual dinner coming up.
These are big milestones for usand big things to happen.
So it definitely makes the 12 monthsof hard work
(18:24):
for myself and the IndianolaMain Street board, extremely rewarding.
So thank you to thosewho have supported us this whole time
and been patient with us as we weregetting this program, up and on its feet.
And we are so excitedfor the year ahead and volunteer driven.
I mean, all the board membersand and the absolutely
(18:45):
committee members as well,that support the board of directors.
It's it's really cool.
And I'm one of those board of directorsas well.
And it's really cooljust to be surrounded by,
a large group of people who are committedto, putting just their best foot
forwardfor the sake of our downtown district,
because what we do here impactsthe greater good of Indianola and beyond.
(19:08):
And those impacts are felt through everysingle citizen, every every single visitor
So it really is cool that this is,very much a volunteer driven effort.
is it absolutely is.
And, I mean, I realize I'm biased, but
we have the greatest team network togetherevery single week.
We work hard.
This is a working board.
(19:28):
These are hard working volunteersand definitely blessed to have for sure.
Well, Erika,
thank you again so much for joining uson this episode of Indy Unplugged.
Listeners, as always,make sure you leave us a comment.
Leave us a review.
This helpsmake sure that we're hitting the mark
with every single episodethat we're putting out of Indy Unplugged,
and we're just a few more episodesleft into season one.
(19:52):
We'll probably have maybe 1to 2 more episodes before we wrap season
one officiallyand relaunch, Indy Unplugged.
Sometime in early 2026.
And who knows, maybe the next time you'llbe a future guest of Indy Unplugged.
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