COMMERCIAL

The Elyria Community Partnership will support commercial development in downtown Elyria. While the precise nature of this work is still being determined in our planning process, the work will certainly support existing downtown merchants and working with the City, will endeavor to recruit additional merchants into vacant spaces downtown.

Already, at our Third Thursday events, we have provided a venue for local entrepreneurs and makers to offer their products. Through supporting the existing Farmers Market along with the Third Thursday events, we have begun to provide support for Elyria merchants. We are hopeful to be part of an effort to support the development of an Elyria Winter Festival which will attract people to downtown and offer local merchants and makers an opportunity to sell their products. One of our goals will be to fill empty spaces downtown with vibrant active businesses.

We look forward to organizing the downtown merchants and supporting new opportunities for their businesses to thrive. We also look forward to doing this work in a way that seeks to support merchants and makers who are women and people of color in particular and may have had fewer opportunities to develop their businesses in the past.