Wood River Main Street Outlines Plans for Community

WOOD RIVER - The Wood River Main Street Business Alliance has an exciting season ahead.

Kristen Burns, director of Wood River Main Street, explained that they’ve been “very busy” with new businesses and investors who are interested in vacant buildings downtown. They also have several events planned for the next few months. Burns is eager to share more about what Wood River Main Street does and how the organization can help business owners.

“Everybody seems to be coming together a lot better than I thought we would,” Burns said. “We have a great group of partners that have come up, and they see the good and they see the need for the Main Street…We could not do what we do without the support of our city and the support of our city officials. Man, we really do have great people that are in Wood River.”

Wood River Main Street will host their second movie night on Aug. 9, 2024, at Central Park. This will be followed by a concert at the bandstand in the park on Sept. 20, 2024, which Burns hopes will turn into “a fun little party.” The Food Truck Festival is scheduled for Sept. 22 downtown, and then people can enjoy the Chili Cook-Off and Car Cruise on Oct. 19, 2024.

All of Wood River Main Street’s events aim to promote community and small businesses in downtown Wood River. In addition to events, the organization offers support for business owners and connects them to resources. They can even help prospective business owners find funding opportunities and write business plans.

“We really want to be the one-stop shop for somebody that’s opening a business because we can give them all of the resources that they really need,” Burns explained.

Additionally, Wood River Main Street has worked with the larger Main Street organization to form a better idea of what Wood River is lacking and how they can fill those gaps. Burns cited furniture stores and boutiques as two examples of businesses that Wood River could attract.

With the Sports Barn and soccer fields located in Wood River, Burns wants to see an expanded sports scene in the city. She believes that this would lead to more restaurants, boutiques, hotels and other businesses. She also pointed out that Wood River is centrally located between Edwardsville and Alton, which is a unique opportunity for the city.

“We are literally the center of everything, so using that opportunity just to bring some more growth and bring some other things,” she added. “There’s such a need for that in our area, and we're really in a prime location to be that place.”

Ultimately, Burns hopes Wood River Main Street can help businesses succeed. She wants to help build up the city through the organization’s events, initiatives and resources.

“We really want to focus on hometown. Everybody wants a hometown. Everybody wants to be proud of their hometown. So let’s give it to them,” she said. “Let’s give people the opportunity that they can walk down Main Street and grab everything that they need. It used to be that way, so why can’t it be again? Just having those people in place that have that same vision is really, really important, and I think that we are really close to having all of those people in place that we need.”

For more information about Wood River Main Street, including upcoming events, visit their official website at WRBusinessAlliance.org.

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