The alley has been a project near and dear to Warrensburg Main Street’s heart since the first step in 2020. The activation of this alley truly brought so many community partners, volunteers and visions together. It’s become a place of gathering, a place of art and really a reminder that with a little love and teamwork, anything can become something. The Alley features many local artist talents, it shows creativity and this is just the beginning. This project was funded thanks to our friends at AARP RI Livable Communities and many other in kind donations.

Karen Vick and Rachel Mifflin were nominated with MKT Clothing Co. for their jump start attitude when COVID tried breaking their spirits. Their creative take on their LIVE Sales and continuous uprising has time after time shown their true love for small business, creativity and ability to adapt. MKT Clothing Co. took a small but mighty challenge and made it into a fun Friday night get away full of their personalities and attention to detail. They have expanded, moved and renovated spaces all while keeping their customers and community in mind.

Emerson was born with volunteering in his blood. He may be the youngest volunteer to our organization and maybe in the State of Missouri. Emerson frequently walks in downtown and often visits the Farmers’ Market and Main Street events, but he started to notice an increase in trash downtown. Emerson decided to start doing his part to keep downtown beautiful and vibrant by picking up trash on his frequent walks around downtown. He can be seen on his gator driving around the streets of downtown picking up trash in the alleys, parking lots, and streets. The best part is Emerson is only 4 years old!

Our award for the business of the year category goes to a business who relocated to Downtown at the end of 2021. This business purchased a building and a vacant lot downtown with the plan to renovate the existing building and build a brand new building downtown. The rehabilitation and new construction project has made a significant impact on the square downtown. The rehabilitation brought an existing building new life and the new construction was designed to fit into our historic district seamlessly. This project brought significant impact downtown by adding multiple new jobs to the district, 2 additional living spaces and 2 storefront spaces. In addition to moving their business downtown the owners of this business have been volunteers for Main Street for many years; serving on committees, volunteering at Piccadilly and Burg Fest. Adding to their commitment to making our downtown better they have also been an annual sponsor for many community and downtown events. Congratulations Fairway Independent Mortgage, we are so happy to have you apart of Downtown Warrensburg.

During 2022 our partnership with the Warrensburg School district was enhanced and grew in several areas. The school district has previously been a partner with Burg Fest contributing in kind and financially to the festival. We have used students as volunteers and some classes to do small projects for the organization. We have reached out to the various performance groups over the years to participate in various events downtown. In 2019 we set the goal of getting the schools and students more involved with our organization. In 2020 and 2021 we had a very successful new event, Prom Parade that was heavily influenced by student input. We also engaged students at Reece Education Center to volunteer with the Alley Activation and Burg Fest set up. In 2022 we continued with student involvement with Prom Parade and Burg Fest along with expanding our partnership. We worked with students at Sterling Elementary to plan and implement a Family Movie Night to end the 2022 school year for our Movie on the Lawn Series. We also worked with another Sterling class and RISE to create and install a new public art project titled Dog Shadows. Those interactions lead to Martin Warren reaching out to us to set up a tour of downtown for their students this fall creating the Downtown Business Experience where students learned about the importance of small business support, running a business and saw some stores they maybe were unaware of. All of these connections have enhanced and increased our partnership with the Warrensburg School District.

Jennifer has been a Warrensburg Main Street supporter since 2017. This is the second year in a row that Jennifer has been nominated for Volunteer of the Year for our organization. Jennifer serves on our Board of Director since 2020 and is the current design committee chair. Jennifer owns a business downtown and is always willing to help make our organization the best it can be. She goes above and beyond to help set up and tear down at events, she donates both in kind and monetarily. Jennifer took charge in the Adopt A Garland program and spent time volunteering on her own to fluff and string lights to garlands. Jennifer believes in giving back to Downtown Warrensburg and our organization and has volunteered over 100 hours in 2022 with Main Street. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into Downtown Warrensburg.

The Counts Family have been fixtures in Warrensburg and Johnson County for many years. Buckeye Acres Produce was started in 1982 by Jim and Jeanne Counts to provide fresh produce to their family and the community. The farm started off with a u-pick strawberry patch and a few vegetables. Soon the farm branched out into raspberries, blackberries and increased the number of vegetable crops. In 1996 Buckeye Acres was instrumental in creating the Warrensburg Farmers’ Market. The Farmers Market is now over 25 years old and we all owe its longevity and dependability to the Counts Family. Buck and Heather have served as the Farmers Market Managers for many of the years since taking over the family farm in 2009. Buckeye Acres is a legacy family business who advocates for local farmers on the state and national levels. The Counts have been instrumental in the growth of the Farmers Market in Downtown Warrensburg. Heather has served on several committees including the Warrensburg Main Street Board of Directors and many other withing the Johnson County area. During our Evening of Excellence we award the the Counts Family a Farmers Market Legacy Award and thanked them for their vision and leadership in shaping the Warrensburg Farmers’ Market. Their dedication is the foundation for the market that the entire community enjoys each week.

The business of the year award is to recognize a downtown business that has stood out this past year due to their innovation, involvement or creativity. Our 2021 Business of the Year winner was Meyer’s Market. Meyer’s Market first opened their doors in 2020 during the pandemic and has only grown since doing so. They have expanded their menu from ice cream and sandwiches to breakfast, charcuterie boards and boozy ice cream. They met the need of a small grocer for the downtown residents and have a featured area promoting other local small businesses. They also started a micro business inside their store called That’s So Darling that features children’s clothing. Kristy & Wade are also very active in Main Street as they make special promotions to go along with Downtown events as well as Kristy serves on the Design committee and Wade is a new 2022 board member.

The Community Partner award is given to a group, business, non profit, organization or community members that have made an impact on our organization this past year. These nominees are often people that work closely with us to achieve our goals and promote community relationships and cooperation. The 2021 Community Partner award went to Stormy Chadbourne Taylor and Diane Norcross Thompson, Johnson County Clerk . County Recorder Stormy Taylor and County Clerk Diane Thompson have significantly increased the participation and support of the downtown courthouse staff with Warrensburg Main Street in 2021. Stormy and Diane have implemented various window decorations over the course of the year for the courthouse including a Christmas office decorating contest. They have opened the courthouse and participated in the Wedding Walk, Downtown Spooktacular and Dickens Christmas. Stormy serves on the Burg Fest committee and both ladies helped coordinate a financial donation from the elected officials for Main Street. We are so appreciative to have their support for our organization.

The Volunteer of the Year award is for an individual who has devoted countless hours to helping Warrensburg Main Street without any hesitation. The 2021 Volunteer of Year was award to Janis Russell. Janis was nominated for her overall help with Main Street. Janis has been volunteering with our organization since 2020. She sits on the organization, farm to table and Burg Fest committee. Janis is always willing to help pass out flyers and advocate our events and promotions. Janis volunteers at every event she is available to help at as well as has attended every Main Street training to better understand our organization. She is a true advocate for our organization and strongly believes in helping us accomplish our mission of revitalizing Downtown. We are so thankful Janis continues to advocate for our organization.

This award was created to recognize some very special people in our organization. In 2020 we created an Advisory Board for Warrensburg Main Street. This committee is composed of community members who have been active with Main Street for many years and have a wealth of knowledge that we rely on to continue to grow and develop as an organization. Our advisory board are key people who meet quarterly to give us direction and advice based on their years of commitment to our downtown and organization. Many of these individuals are personally responsible for the transformation that has happened over the past 25 plus years in Downtown Warrensburg. There are 4 people on this board who we consider legacy Warrensburg Main Street volunteers. These individuals have been a part of Main Street for over 15 years and we want to recognize them for all of their years of commitment and volunteerism. This award recognized Katie Scully, Rex Smarr, Jason Elkins, and Rhonda Gelbach. These 4 individuals have helped shape and mold our organization. We are so grateful for the many years of dedication they have committed to Warrensburg Main Street but Downtown Warrensburg and it’s growth, expansion and overall well being.

UCM was awarded Community Partner of the Year due to the multiple connections the Alumni Association was able to connect Warrensburg Main Street with during the Fall 2019 semester. Our office worked with multiple professors that have allowed us to partner with their students. These students have created and implemented a new event for April 2020 called Snapshot of the Burg. Another helped better organize our internal organization system and open many doors within our communication platform, introducing us to GSuite .The last group, IBE students paired with us and choose us as their organization to dedicate volunteer service hours as well as donate their profit from their product. We are using the donated funds to add more art in our Downtown. UCM has also connected us with multiple organizations and individuals to volunteer during many Main Street events in 2019. UCM highlighted Warrensburg Main Street during a fall football game and they also participated during our Dickens’ Christmas Event having their Achauer House open with Holiday Treats, entertainment and added to our friendly competitive Tiny Tim Soup Stroll. Thank you University of Central Missouri for your support.

Teena Simon is the 2019 Heart of Downtown Award Winner. Teena has served many positions within the Main Street board, design committee and advisory board. Teena brought a new, unique event to life in 2018, Farm to Table. She served as the chairperson for two years straight for this event helping design and run this event. Teena also has been very dependable volunteer for Main Street. She is also open to give us suggestions, ideas and critique to help better our organization. We are so lucky to have this relationship with her because she plays such large role to the organization, the board and staff. Thank you Teena!

Green Truck Bakery is the winner of Business of the Year. Green Truck bakery started as a vendor at the Warrensburg Farmers Market. As their businesses continued to expand they opened a store front in downtown. After remodeling their location they opened with limited hours. but within a very short time they have already increased the days and times they are open. Green Truck Bakery is a big supporter of Warrensburg Main Street with their participation in almost all of our events and they are also the winners of our Burg Blooms competition in 2019.

Gina Carlyle is the 2019 Volunteer of the Year. Gina has been part of Warrensburg Main Street for many years. Without hesitation, she had taken on many roles including a member of our board, promotions committee and organization committee. She continues to be a major role in our annual Piccadilly by helping with the entire planning process and production day of. She is also a Downtown property owner and co business owner, of Awesome Blossoms. Her business is an anchor in our Downtown as well as when it comes to participating in our events. We are so appreciative of her helping hand and all she does for Main Street.