With months of construction on Flossmoor’s downtown finally concluded, the village will be host a grand reopening at the end of the month.
Flossmoor plans a Small Business Saturday event on Nov. 29, promoting local businesses, ringing in the holiday season and celebrating the end of what has been a long and sometimes disruptive construction project.
“I think it’s going to bring a lot of people that didn’t know everything was all done down here,” said Maureen Mader, owner of Dunning’s Market. “There’ll be a lot of foot traffic. We can all show off our stores in the best light.”
Construction work on the Downtown Flossmoor Streetscape Project began in June, but the project was in the works for nearly 10 years. Traffic analysis and work to obtain funding began in 2017.
“The streetscape project was twofold. One, making our downtown safer for pedestrians, and it’s a very pedestrian heavy part of our village, with the Metra stop there, with all of the restaurants, with it being a crossing for folks going to and from school,” said Mayor Michelle Nelson. “The most important part of that project was slowing cars down to make it safer for pedestrians.”
The second part was to beautify the downtown, which is nearly a century old.
“It was starting to look a little tired and show its age,” Nelson said. “You know, our village is 100 years old. The downtown was substantially built back in 1929, so it was starting to look a little tired.”
Mader said although the construction was “a little bit intrusive,” she and her customers were able to adapt. Dunning’s Market posted regular updates to social media of the status and how people could access its storefront, she said.
“We knew for a long time this was coming, so we had thought about some ways in which to mitigate the intrusion,” Mader said. “There was a downturn, I mean, a little bit of a downturn in business, but mostly people made up for it later in the day or they would order catering.”
Mader said she saw a high degree of community support during the construction.
“They would go out of their way to stop and buy something. They would always check on us, how are you guys doing, are you doing OK,” Mader said. “Everybody was worried about everybody. That’s what I saw.”
Javanah Barnes, owner of The Balloon Bar, said she’s happy with the results of the construction.
“Fresh sidewalks, fresh planters. I think it looks great,” Barnes said.
Barnes’ party supplies business occupies one spot in the multi-business Shops at Sterling complex at Sterling Avenue and Flossmoor Road, and she said the different businesses in the building plan to collaborate with special deals for Small Business Saturday.
“It’ll be my first Small Business Saturday with my brick-and-mortar, so we are very excited, we’re working on some deals,” Barnes said.
Barnes opened her business in April, not long before work began.
“I think for the most part it wasn’t too bad. They tried to make it very accommodating for the customers by opening up the extra lot,” Barnes said. “Business did get a little slow, but not too dramatically slow.”
The area also had some other news businesses open. Beyond Borders Cafe opened in August, and the nearby Flossmoor Social opened last month.
Nelson said part of the intent behind the Small Business Saturday event is to announce to Flossmoor residents that downtown is once more fully open for business. The plans include a ribbon cutting at 2 p.m.
“Our streets are striped, you can park your car, you can walk along the sidewalk and we don’t have those obstacles that we had for most of the summer,” Nelson said. “Downtown is open! Our small business owners, who are so important to our local economy, they’re excited to see everybody and they’re excited for the Christmas season.”
The event will also mark the start of the holiday season. There are all-ages activities scheduled at nearby Flossmoor Park, including visits with Santa, caroling and a holiday tree lighting. Santa will arrive by fire truck at 3 p.m. at Flossmoor Park.
Nelson said that although the construction is finished, there are still some finishing touches.
“What you’re not gonna see on Small Business Saturday, and what’ll come next spring or early summer, are native plants that are going to be going in all of the planters where the trees are, as well as big pots with the annual flowers that people are used to seeing,” Nelson said. “So there’s more to come, I wouldn’t say that this is the end of that project, but it is substantial completion.”
Businesses at Flossmoor Commons, at Governors Highway and Vollmer Road, will also participate.
If you go
Where: Downtown Flossmoor (Flossmoor Road and Sterling Avenue) and Flossmoor Park
When: Nov. 29, all day; ribbon cutting at 2 p.m.; all-ages park activities from 3 to 5:30 p.m.
elewis@chicagotribune.com
