Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final story in a series examining downtown Marion’s revitalization efforts over the past 50 years.
As downtown Marion grows with more businesses and new living spaces, developers have focused on bringing back people to the heart of the city.
Luke Henry, owner of Henry Development Group, hopes residents give downtown a chance after decades of work to revitalize it.
“I think that, for a lot of years, people kind of got in the habit of going out of town because we didn’t have all these things in our community,” Henry said. “So it’s just changing our habits and behaviors of where we celebrate special events and that kind of thing. And so we’re just trying to continue to spread that word.”
Downtown Marion, Inc.’s influence
Downtown Marion, Inc., a nonprofit organization which supports downtown businesses, was founded by Lois Fisher, Evelyn Warr-Cummings, Ken Lengieza and others in the late 1990s. The informal group, Warr-Cummings explained, would “become the voice” of retailers and business owners.
Today, it’s run by Executive Director Allen Wilson and a board made up of business owners, public officials and more. In 2025, it hosted 22 events with an estimated 24,500 participants, which have generated an estimated economic impact of nearly $500,000, according to its annual report.
Downtown Marion, Inc.’s events like Third Thursday, Taste of Marion, the Lighted Truck Parade and others take place downtown and highlight the businesses that reside there.
“It’s vital for the revitalization of any community to have a thriving downtown,” Wilson said. “Before revitalization, Marion had a strong decline in population. We also had a negative perception within the media that Marion wasn’t the place you wanted to be … so trying to change that perception of we are a community that you want to relocate to, our downtown area is a opportunity zone.”
Downtown Marion, Inc. received its Main Street accreditation in 2025 from Heritage Ohio, a nonprofit which specializes in downtown revitalization, and Wilson is pushing to get Downtown Marion, Inc.’s national accreditation by 2027. He hopes the recognition can help Downtown Marion, Inc. when seeking grants or attracting industry to Marion.
“Lois has told this story to me before that they got a call that this huge manufacturing facility that wanted to come to the town, but they (Downtown Marion, Inc.) weren’t a part of the Main Street organization,” Wilson said. “So they said, ‘Sorry, we’re not coming to your community’ because they know if we’re a part of it, your downtown is where you’re at.”
This year, Downtown Marion, Inc. launched its first fundraising campaign after losing funding from Marion’s local government. At the beginning of 2026, Wilson told Marion City Council the organization was at risk of shutting down within three months.
“You’d hate to lose that knowledge and then have to go back from square one,” Lengieza said.
The fundraiser’s goal was to raise $75,000 through 100 contributors and so far has seen success. Wilson remains hopeful it will be fully funded by donors. He’s currently planning for Marion’s Third Thursday and Taste of Marion to return downtown this summer.
Social media brings Marion to the world
Lengieza, special projects director for Marion County’s Regional Planning Commission, said the economy in Marion is improving after the depression in the 1980s, with businesses like Whirlpool Corporation announcing an expansion in Marion.
“It’s been a long climb back,” he said.
Warr-Cummings, the director of regional planning, commended business owners for online campaigns to bring in customers from outside of Marion, explaining that local money alone may not be enough to support all of downtown’s businesses.
“Downtown has to function not only as a neighborhood and provide the services to those around it,” Warr-Cummings said. “But it also can serve to reach outside the Marion County market.”
After starting a singalong brunch series at his restaurant, Alex Sheridan, owner of Bucci’s Italian Scratch Kitchen, began to post about it on TikTok, which went viral. Brunch tickets sold out immediately, even when Sheridan added additional dates.
People come for the brunch from Ohio and all over the country. In June, Sheridan was excited to learn a group from South Africa will make the journey to Marion to enjoy belting out their favorite tunes.
“The whole thing just kind of took on a life of its own and happened pretty organically,” Sheridan said.
Before every weekend brunch, Sheridan sends out ideas for participants looking for places to eat or things to do while in town. The most challenging part is finding reliable transportation for participants after the event, many of whom have been drinking alcohol. He hopes more Uber or Lyft drivers sign up for weekend shifts.
“Hopefully, it’s been a decent boost for a lot of the businesses around here,” Sheridan said. “I think most of them are staying in the Airbnbs or hotels around here as well. So I imagine it’s having a pretty decent economic impact on the community.”
Residents return to the downtown
Bev Ford, executive director for the Marion Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, transitioned the bureau’s marketing strategy from being solely focused on outside tourism to appealing to those already living in Marion.
“I just felt like there was so much happening in Marion that Marion probably didn’t even know about,” Ford said. “And so we built our message kind of in a two-pronged approach that we would still definitely focus on bringing guests into our community, but we also wanted to create awareness for the people who lived here to become, if you will, kind of tourists in your own backyard.”
One way Ford and others try to reconnect with Marion residents is through social media. The visitors bureau uses its website and Facebook to promote upcoming events and stories of Marion.
Similarly, Downtown Marion, Inc. has supported businesses consistently online by re-posting local businesses’ posts and sharing local events.
“I guess just one of my big things for 2026 is just ensuring that the community knows what the downtown has to offer,” Wilson said. “My wife and I could not tell you the last time we went to Delaware or Columbus to have dinner.”
Kim Bradshaw, owner of Sip Easy Coffee Bar, noticed younger crowds coming to her coffee shop after her husband’s “Decide Daniel’s Drink” series on TikTok where users suggest drink ideas for him to try.
The series, along with Sip Easy’s own social media postings, have brought a younger generation to Bradshaw’s shop. She’s found TikTok is the best way to bring young people downtown.
“I smile when I see them,” Bradshaw said. “It’s nice to see they have a safe place that they can come.”
Wilson and others hope to see the momentum continue as more Marion County residents rediscover the downtown and visitors learn what Marion has to offer.
“I would encourage everyone to get out and see that we have revitalized downtown,” Wilson said. “It is a fun, safe, vibrant part of our community, and we just hope everybody comes out and takes part.”
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: How to bring Marion back downtown
Reporting by Abby Bammerlin, Marion Star / Marion Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
