Warsaw to cut ribbon on downtown project

By Linda Lipp | Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

Warsaw will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 20 to formally unveil “The Alley” gathering space downtown.

The project was funded through contributions to a crowd-funding campaign run on Patronicity, in cooperation with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Places program. The goal was $50,000, but the campaign actually raised $58,795. The state agency provided a $50,000 matching grant.

The Alley features tables, chairs, landscaping, art work, shade, bike parking and public WiFi.

A large contributor to the project – both through a monetary grant of $5,000 and through volunteers – was the Warsaw Public Art Commission. The alley project provides an opportunity for art to be displayed in a public space.

The city of Decatur is using the same mechanism to help fund its new Madison Street Plaza project. At the end of August, with about three weeks to go, the crowd-funding campaign had raised more than $44,000. That also would be matched, up to $50,000, by the IHCDA.

The Madison Street Plaza will create a space for the many events the city hosts downtown. The link for the fund-raising campaign is www.patronicity.com/project/madison_street_plaza#!/