Back to Business – Delaware

Main Street Delaware

Right as businesses reopened, downtown Delaware was struck by a flood. This could have been devastating to local businesses, but the Delaware community stepped up to help. Main Street Delaware had raised $3,000 for a COVID-19 relief fund, but after the flood they reopened it and raised a total of $27,000 to support small businesses.

Supporting small businesses is a priority for the Delaware community. Main Street Delaware encourages this by helping businesses with funding, marketing resources and support. Businesses have adapted creatively and work to support downtown and each other during this difficult time. 

“We’ve got a lot of traction on supporting local over the years,” Director Susan Bibler says. “People understand that supporting small businesses and our community is important right now to get through this challenging time.” 

For a week, Main Street gathered volunteers and helped clean up downtown businesses affected by flooding. They collected buckets, mops, bleach, fans, gloves and paper towels in the Main Street office to help businesses get back on their feet. 

The Friday before the initial shutdown, Bibler and a videographer visited downtown businesses. Anticipating the shutdown, they recorded footage — a mug of coffee poured, a pizza pulled out of an oven — to create a reopening video campaign to promote downtown. 

Main Street Delaware also supported downtown businesses by creating signs. With the city, they designed a “Be Aware Delaware” sign that lists precautions and social distancing specific to each business. 

“They had to figure out how to make and open their spaces,” Bibler says. “In the meantime, we figured out some logistics. We could do that for them.” 

Some businesses that creatively adapted to COVID-19 include the event center Gather. Gather hosted private proms for small groups of people, often just one couple. For two hours, the group had the space to themselves with music and lighting to try to capture the high school experience they lost.

Another business sold t-shirts to raise money for downtown businesses. Homestretch Apparel was set to open on the First Friday event in April. The event was cancelled, but the t-shirt business still opened and designed a “Delaware Has Heart” t-shirt and donated $10 of each to support small businesses. 

Bibler says other businesses have switched to and developed their online platforms, scheduled appointments to shop, and implemented safety measures. The downtown has three breweries, and they have started canning or bottling beer and providing orders for pickup once a week. 

Outdoor seating has contributed to the successful reopening of many restaurants. Many of the thirty-two restaurants have patios and wide sidewalks in addition to closed off parking spots. Main Street Delaware has had a DORA in place for a while, but it was open for events only. Now, it’s open Wednesdays through Sundays. 

To promote more social distancing, the farmers market was moved from the downtown to the fairgrounds. Before, people visited downtown businesses as they shopped at the market, so Main Street allowed businesses such as Fresh Start bakery, The Greater Gouda and Olivina Taproom to set up at the farmers market. 

“It’s been a very positive experience once we got the word out,” Bibler says. “People are just happy to see it continue.”  

Another popular downtown event is First Friday. The Main Street Delaware program is 21 years old, so First Fridays are a staple in the community now with different themes each month, late shopping hours and activities for kids. Before the shutdown, each First Friday would attract 5-10,000 visitors downtown. 

“It’s a successful event, and we didn’t want people to lose focus of our downtown,” Bibler says. 

To keep downtown businesses on people’s minds, Bibler decided to host First Friday at home. Families were encouraged to leave chalk drawings all over the downtown and community as a “chalk-it-up” Friday. 

“When everybody was at home, I think families were looking for activities to do,” Bibler says, “People appreciated that as opposed to just not having first Fridays anymore.”

Bibler and the Main Street Delaware team are brainstorming ideas for future virtual events and looking ahead to Christmas. All the plans that have been perfected over the years do not apply anymore, so they are thinking ahead and planning to meet this challenge. 

“The folks who are being proactive and open to new opportunities are going to succeed in the end,” Bibler says. “The community really appreciates the ability to continue shopping and supporting locally.”