The year may be winding down but the work is still ratcheting up for Main Street El Dorado.
Beth Brumley, executive director of MSE, said the group is ending 2021 on a high note -- the realization of the optimism that board members espoused at the beginning of the year.
Brumley acknowledged that things appeared a bit shaky for the organization as she and the MSE board of directors, along with practically everyone else across the globe, tried to navigate their way through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The public health crisis forced the cancellation of most of MSE's annual events in 2020, cutting deeply into the organization's opportunities to bring in revenue for the year.
A fundraising event -- an exhibition featuring the world-famed Harlem Globetrotters -- was held in February 2020 in the El Dorado High School Wildcat Arena.
It was the first and last large event that MSE was able to host in 2020.
Rounding out the year, MSE worked with the Downtown Business Association and other groups to coordinate holiday activities -- including the Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony, Downtown Holiday Open House, a then-newly created downtown Black Friday sales event, photos with Santa, Shop Small Saturday and holiday drawings and prize giveaways -- but in limited capacity due to COVID-19 health and safety guidelines and restrictions for large-scale events.
Heading into 2021, Brumley and board members expressed concern about MSE's budget, questioning in late 2020 and early 2021 if the program would be able to generate enough revenue to continue operating past February 2021.
Brumley pointed back to the sanguine outlook the MSE board has held on to throughout the past 21 months, saying that 2021 turned out to be a banner year for the organization, which hosted 24 events in 2021 -- the most ever in a single year.
Now as MSE prepares for its final event of the year -- Saturday's Merry Market in downtown El Dorado -- Brumley said the group will maintain the same optimistic mindset for 2022.
2021 and 2022
MSE just wrapped most of the 2021 holiday events in downtown El Dorado.
The group will assist the DBA today with First Thursday, during which downtown shops remain open until 7 p.m. and offer specials to help boost customer foot traffic.
First Thursday will coincide with the El Dorado Christmas Parade -- another event for which MSE provides assistance.
The parade, which is organized by the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce, tees off at 7 p.m.
The caravan of marching bands, floats, walking groups, horses and more will snake its way through downtown and because Union Square is a popular observation spot along the parade route, MSE and the DBA are hoping to entice spectators to explore downtown shops and restaurants.
The Merry Market is set for 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday on Washington Avenue (the west side of the Union County Courthouse).
A new downtown holiday event, the Merry Market will offer a wide variety of jewelry, clothing, seasonal items, children's books, holiday treats, handmade crafts and more, with temporary vendors, pop-up shops and downtown merchants.
Admission is $5 and comes with a canvas tote bag; entry into the hospitality tent, which will include food and will be heated; a ticket for door-prize drawings that will be held throughout the day; and a "passport" to be stamped by downtown businesses and Merry Market vendors upon making a purchase.
Passports will also be submitted for a Grand Prize drawing for a $200 shopping spree at participating downtown business and four tickets to MAD on Ice.
Ticket-holders must be present to win prizes.
For an additional $10, attendees can take part in the Santa Experience, which includes photos with Santa and possibly, the Grinch, and "reindeer food" -- a bag with oats, bird seed, glitter and a note with instructions
Proceeds from the Merry Market will go to the Arkansas Women's Business Center, which assists entrepreneurs, particularly women and minorities, in starting a business.
For the second consecutive year, the AWBC has canceled its annual Mistletoe Market because of COVID-19 for sale.
"Although they're not necessarily downtown, they're still in our wheelhouse of helping small businesses," Brumley has said.
Brumley said MSE and the DBA are also hoping that a TV special, "The Spirit of Christmas", that recently aired on KTBS, a Shreveport, Louisiana, TV station, will help lead to a successful holiday shopping season for downtown merchants, whose businesses were also affected by COVID 19 in 2020.
First Thursday and the Merry Market will cap off a long list of events MSE has hosted throughout the year.
The group burst into 2021 with the return of its annual events, including Shamrockin' on the Square and its summer and fall activities -- Showdown at Sunset, the Summer Concert Series, Grill Wars, MusicFest and others --, all of which were canceled in 2020.
"We're tired," Brumley said with a laugh.
The 2021 Airstreams on the Square, which was held in conjunction with the Arkansas Razorbacks Airstream Club in late October, was deemed the most successful in the four-year history of the event in El Dorado.
Brumley said invoices and sponsorship payments are still coming in and the numbers are being tallied but early projections indicate that MusicFest, which was held the first weekend in October, will pull in a profit.
MSE teams up with the Murphy Arts District to host MusicFest.
In 1988, Main Street launched the festival as a fundraiser and a way to bring more people downtown, and in 2017, the group agreed to a partnership with MAD to host MusicFest.
Main Street handles the "festival" portion and MAD books the headliners.
MSE board members have said that revenue from the flagship fundraiser has decreased since MSE no longer handles the ticketed events and its portion of the festival -- attractions, vendors and side stages -- has dropped from two days to one.
Brumley said attendance for MusicFest 2021 was "not where we thought it would be" for this year, noting that rain drove away some of the crowd on the morning of Oct. 2.
"We're probably going to end up with an $11,000 profit (for MusicFest 2021)," Brumley said. "Most of it is registration fees for the (MusicFest 5K/10K Run and Walk) and the Miss MusicFest Pageant."
With help from the El Dorado Works tax -- a one-cent city sales tax that provides funds for economic development, municipal infrastructure and quality-of-like projects --, MSE also completed a long-running project to install an ambient sound system in downtown El Dorado.
The system went online earlier this fall.
The financial assistance allowed the group to use grant funds to complete another long-running goal of incorporating crosswalk art onto the downtown landscape.
Three murals have been painted so far at the intersections of Washington and Elm and Jefferson and Elm.
Sponsors and donations assisted with at least one of the murals and Brumley thanked sponsors and donors who stepped up this year to help MSE overall, saying that with their help, MSE was able to present several events this year.
She said she hopes that a partnership with two downtown churches -- First Baptist and First Presbyterian, both on Main Street -- for the Scare on the Square Halloween event leads to more such opportunities.
The churches provided free food, games and other activities downtown on Oct. 30.
Brumley said more than 2,200 free hot dogs, including 1,000 from First Baptist Church, ran out fairly quickly.
"For the churches to reach out to us says a lot about what we've done with public relations over the years," said Holly McDonald, MSE administrative assistant.
Added Brumley, "It's something to be said about the program. When I joined Main Street, we had a reputation as party crowd and churches did not want to partner with us but, now, they're reaching out to us and we're looking forward to working with them on some other things."
Brumley said that MSE is also looking to tackle more projects and events in 2022 to help sustain and grow downtown El Dorado.
"We got a lot done this year and we've got lots of ideas for other things that we've been wanting to do and we're going to look into that for 2022," she said.