Our Daily Show Interview! Catching Up With Wood River Main Street!
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WOOD RIVER - Wood River Main Street looks forward to celebrating the town’s growth with several upcoming events.
Executive Director Kristen Burns jokes that the downtown district is “like dumpster city” right now as several construction projects are underway. But she emphasized her excitement to see “this energized revitalization,” and she is eager to mark Wood River’s expansion with the upcoming farmers’ market, Independence Day celebration, and more.
“We’re excited,” Burns said. “The collaboration with the city has always been really good, and we just appreciate that they support us and we support them. That’s what it’s all about. Community is about collaboration and communication and all those good things that make things move forward, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Burns shared that the Wood River Main Street organization is officially accredited by National Main Street, which is a big step. To celebrate and to mark the end of some of the downtown construction, they will host a “neighborhood social” later this month, with more information to be announced soon.
The farmers’ market is one of Burns’s favorite projects every year. Starting on June 11, 2026, and running through September, the market will be held in the parking lot behind Ferguson Avenue. They are still looking for vendors and hope to welcome hundreds of people again this year throughout the season.
Burns noted that this is likely the market’s last year in the Ferguson Avenue parking lot location. Wood River is in the process of building a city center in the middle of town, and she looks forward to holding the market — and many more events — there in the coming seasons. She hopes the community uses the center as a space to come together.
“That’s kind of the whole point, is having that hub. We can just, as a community, be together, hang out, do some fun things, listen to music. We’ll have this pavilion that I can do a lot of different events and a lot of different things in,” she explained. “I’m really, really excited that we’re able to utilize that space and just make it a place for the entire community.”
But the summer excitement doesn’t end there. As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Wood River is joining in on the fun with a drone show and event on July 3, 2026. From 4–10 p.m. at Belk Park, community members can enjoy all kinds of food, music, a beer tent, a rock climbing wall, and more fun at the Independence Day festival. A drone show at 9:15 p.m. caps off the night.
Wood River Main Street is gearing up for these events, and Burns can’t wait to celebrate with her hometown. She encourages people to visit their official website for more information about each event and everything that Wood River Main Street is doing to support the community.
She added that the organization will continue to promote businesses throughout the district, as this is one of their main priorities. Wood River Main Street hopes to continue building up the people and businesses that make up their town.
“Right now, we're really focusing on our partners and just focusing on our downtown businesses and actually our whole Main Street businesses,” Burns said. “A lot of people don’t realize that our Main Street isn’t just Ferguson. It’s Wood River Avenue, Edwardsville Road, and Sixth Street. So we have quite a few businesses that aren’t in the downtown district but still in the Main Street district, and we really want to focus on them and make sure that they’re getting some spotlight as well.”
For more information about these businesses or the work done by Wood River Main Street to support the town, visit their official website or Facebook page.
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