By Susan Volbrecht –
MUNCIE, IN – As the Muncie Action Plan (MAP) closes out the year, we would like to share MAP’s efforts to improve quality of life in Muncie and Delaware County as we approach our Annual Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 31st at 6:00 p.m. The public is invited to join MAP at Minnetrista’s Indiana Room to hear from each of our four task forces as they share the work completed during 2023. This is the second of four reports from our task force leaders.
Muncie Action Plan Task Force 2 is focused on Making Walnut Street exceptional, as well as strengthening bonds with connecting neighborhoods. This was a new area for Muncie Action Plan when last rewritten, taking the torch from pride and image and quality of place, and devoting attention to the historic heart of the city.
Our work has been mainly as collaborators, helping promote downtown events and recruiting volunteers. These include Fire Up, Arts Walks, and Light Up Downtown. However, our team has been in a role of planning and executing the Muncie Bridge Dinner, which continues to be one of Muncie’s most popular events. The most recent dinner, on September 21st of 2023, had hundreds in attendance. In addition to local food trucks and vendors, tables were decorated with artwork created by Muncie students, and a DJ provided ambience. We were thrilled to announce a new partner in the event, Canoe Country, who brought boats for guests to enjoy the river more closely.
In addition, MAP will continue to function as co-host for the $2 Tour of the Village, which incorporates the neighborhoods bordering downtown. This event features so many local businesses, and has a long history of bringing the Riverside/Normal and other adjacent neighborhoods into the spotlight.
We hope to expand our work this year by supporting zoning code and design standards for downtown improvements. This became part of the team’s purview when the new plan was adopted, and we are excited to see what’s on the horizon for us, and how we can step into this role. As work in downtown progresses, we will be looking for opportunities to participate.
