Out of 242 entries from all across the country your votes put us in the top 10.  Then the judges took over and selected DeLand.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote and more than that, thanks to everyone for making downtown DeLand so deserving of the award.  We hope you were among the thousands that joined us downtown for the Main Streets Make Us Better celebration on Friday, June 30th! 

The contest was presented by IndependentWeStand.org who supports small independent businesses and shopping local and is a great supporter of downtowns.  Stihl power tools was the major sponsor for the contest.  As the contest winner MainStreet DeLand won $25,000 in cash and other prizes.  A thousand dollar gift certificate from Stihl was just one of many prizes given away during the Friday night celebration. Thanks to our Downtown businesses who went over the top to offer door prizes for the night. 

Always working to fulfill our mission of organizing and assisting in the continuing economic development of downtown DeLand while protecting and promoting its historic heritage, we brought in a consultant to help us determine our next steps.  The consultant met with a few merchants, restaurant owners, property owners, City officials and staff, realtors, chamber, art, tourism and of course our Economic Vitality committee and board members.  Our committees will go over the findings in the report and help us to plan our next steps.  

If you are into this kind of stuff like I am, this is an exciting time to be a part of MainStreet DeLand.  If you or your business would like to join MainStreet DeLand you can find what you need on our MainStreetDeLand.org website or contact me at the MainStreet office at 738-0649. 

Our calendar for July includes Tropical Nights on the 21st; the DeLand Classic Car Cruise-In on the 15th; Wine, Women, and Chocolate on the 12th.  Our educational workshops are Tech DeLand on the 27th and Build Your Business Group on the 20th.  The BYBG speaker will be Dr. Ron Cook, Co-founder of Distrx, our downtown app.

You can find out about all these downtown happenings and more on the Distrx App and on our www.MainStreetDeLand.org website.  

See You Downtown,

Wayne Carter
Executive Director
MainStreetDeLand.org