Main Street gearing up for the summer

NORWALK — Big things are in store for uptown Norwalk. Eighteen business owners and operators, along with local business leaders, gathered Thursday morning at the first meeting of the Main Street Committee. From trees to the old fire station to Berry's Restaurant, a lot of questions and ideas were kicked around. Also on the agenda was "Solarbration" set for April 8, 2024. Next up for uptown is the Strawberry Festival, set for Memorial Day Weekend. Main Street will be closed from Milan Avenue to Church Street. "We want to utilize Suhr Park and this end of Main Street as much as possible," said Jaycee representative Danny Grine. "Trash was a big complaint last year. We are looking at different things. We are looking at the Norwalk High School football team to help us with the trash." Grine also said lights will be strung across Main Street for both decoration and safety purposes. "It will look great," said Huron County Chamber of Commerce Director Kelly Lippus. "If it works we can do it more often." Looking to the future, Lippus said, "What do we look like and where do we want to go?" Also discussed was the total solar eclipse, with Norwalk as the epicenter, next April. It will be billed as "Moon over Main Street," with about 100,000 people expected to come into town. With the eclipse on a Monday afternoon, it is hoped people will come early and make a weekend out of it." The Norwalk Public Library has 1,000 glasses to hand out for this event and the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023. "We'll never have as much of a spotlight on our area," said Kayla Strause of the Norwalk Economic Development Corp. "It's going to be a big deal." Norwalk Mayor Dave Light talked about Berry's Restaurant, which has been closed for a couple of years. "We're hoping that will open soon," he said. He also talked about the old fire station, which has been inspected and is "rock solid." He said a brewery owner has shown interest and has been back a couple of times to inspect the building. "He said it would cost $3 million to improve it, but they seem interested," Light said. After 4:30 p.m. during the week and on the weekends there is plenty of free city parking around the building, he said. Light also talked about a shuttle bus from uptown Norwalk to Summit Motorsports Park and back during the racetrack's big events. Also discussed was the completion of the multi-use path from Veterans Memorial Lake Park to the Ernsthausen Community Center. The Market on Main will begin May 30 at Suhr Park. The market will include many local vendors and food trucks. It will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. every other Tuesday. The group will meet again at 8:30 a.m. May 11 at the Norwalk Public Library.