First Town Downtown Work Will Continue

The work of First Town Downtown will continue. After the budget season this year, the organization's future was in doubt as their operating funding was cut from $30,000 to $15,000. The group immediately began talks with the Windsor Chamber of Commerce to see if they could collaborate. "That was their funding for the year," said Chamber Director Jane Garibay. "That was their major funding."

The Possibility of a Partnership

As the two groups researched their options, they decided to create a panel research committee that included three members of each organization, three former presidents of each organization and the town's economic development director, Jim Burke. "How can we do this?" the group asked, according to Garibay. "We started researching across the country and found many Mainstreets and Chambers who had built partnerships, including Texas and Wisconsin."

The Mainstreet concept, under which FTDT has worked, is a national program with four goals: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring with a focus on the downtown area of towns. 

"We think FTDT is valuable and has it’s own successful programs," said FTDT Coordinator Ashley Dufresne. "There is a lot of growth happening in Windsor over the next couple of years and Windsor needs an organization that is just dedicated to the downtown."

"What we’re hoping to do is bring it back to a CT Mainstreet program," said Dufresne who feels that the group has moved away from that program model in recent years.

According to Garibay, FTDT will maintain their own 501(c)(3) status and will be housed in the Chamber offices to maintain a continuity of services.

Chamber Will Continue to Focus on Other Parts of Windsor

In the meantime, the Chamber will continue to meet the unique business needs of other areas of town, including the Day Hill Road and the Wilson areas. In fact, The Chamber will be opening a satellite office at Windsor Federal one day a week to bring their services and resources to Wilson.

What is on the mind of Garibay in the upcoming years? Not surprisingly, "the plaza building, the 2016 train line coming through..." she said. It's no secret that everyone in town would like to see the Plaza Building re-purposed and put to good use soon.

"People just seem very positive about this [decision]," said Garibay. "This way, Mainstreet continues. If FTDT were to disappear the programs would disappear too."

FTDT presently runs some of the most attended and most popular programs in town, including the Farmer's Market, Taste of Windsor and Nightmare on Broad Street. "It will fill a need," she said. In addition, FTDT will be self-sufficient. "The chamber is not contributing," added Garibay. 

"It is a major change for both organizations," said Dufresne. "Instead of making new events, [we are trying to] take the events we already do bigger and better. At the end of the day every wants whats best for Windsor. It’s going to better for the programs we already have. It can only make things better," she said.