How is it that the first quarter of the year is nearing its close? It seems like I was just standing outside in the parking lot behind Mango’s ringing in the new year as a giant lit sphere rose over downtown.

In Downtown Alpena, 2025 started off on a high note, as we hosted the first-ever New Year’s Eve celebration with the help of HPC Credit Union and the City of Alpena’s Department of Public Works and Fire Department. This event brought record sales to downtown bars and restaurants and filled the parking lot and alleyway with revelers from the area and beyond.

As I walked through downtown that evening, I reflected on what downtown had looked like a few years ago — and all the changes, investments, and partnerships that have paved the way for an event like this to take place. Incremental changes, public and private investment, and commitment to a shared vision of what our downtown could be were on full display that night.

When I first started my job in 2017, that scene would have looked immensely different. Cars would have been driving through the alleyway as a cut through from 2nd to 3rd. No string lights next to the Center Building, no tables for customers, no flower bed or trees twinkling with Christmas lights.

The community fish mural, spearheaded by Art in the Loft, was the only public art in this stretch, setting a vision for the gallery of murals that would be painted over the next ten years.

The Marketplace (now Rusty Petunias) was actively for sale; no liquor license had yet been added, nothing upstairs but storage, a brown back wall. Hallmark had just gone out of business; HopSide Brewery was just a plan and a dream. Metal siding covered a string of storefronts on Chisholm and 3rd Ave. Mango’s was still on U.S.-23; there was no outdoor seating in the Pocket Park, no walk-up bar in the alleyway. Walk a bit further, and PIF Cider was a boarded-up office. Social Districts, allowing customers to take drinks into public areas, weren’t even a concept at the statewide level.

This transformation did not happen overnight. One by one, businesses changed hands, property owners renovated facades, the DDA painted murals, grants were written, and business owners advocated for more public spaces and got involved with more events. Seeds of ideas started with “Wouldn’t it be great?” and morphed to “How can we?”

Meanwhile, 2024 was a difficult year for downtown. The Fresh Palate closed its doors after nearly 15 years, leaving two crucial spaces in the heart of 2nd Avenue vacant for over a year. Other key buildings continued to sit vacant, as construction and interest rates continued to rise. Sales at downtown businesses were down, even though certain days, like New Year’s Eve, resulted in record single-day sales.

What does 2025 look like? There are plenty of positive developments on the horizon.

Samantha’s on 2nd announced they will be opening within the next month in the Center Building. Bay Athletic Club and Thunder Bay Community Health Service will be completing an extensive renovation and relocating to their new home in the former Huntington Bank. Thunder Bay Theatre’s $1.8 million renovation will be completed. Twelve facade projects throughout the district, including Alpena Agency, the Bolenz Block, Players Pub, and Smigelski Kielbasa, will be complete, thanks to a combination of DDA, state grants, and private funding that will total $1.2 million of investment.

Five more businesses (who have not yet publicly announced their plans) will be renovating spaces and opening. Culligan Plaza will be under renovation. New courts and restrooms will be added to Bay View Park.

Our work at the DDA for 2025 will include activating the riverfront, seeking the feasibility of a food co-op, adding more public art, and re-envisioning Chisholm Street to make it safer for people walking and biking and more beautiful.

There is no silver bullet to our downtown’s revitalization. As I walked through the alleyway, I was reminded that no single improvement was solely responsible for this area’s revitalization or the success of the new event.

Sure, the alleyway could have been closed to car traffic, but it wouldn’t have been used if there weren’t bars or restaurants alongside it. A single mural can spark a visit downtown, but having 20 within walking distance makes it a destination. It’s great to grab dinner downtown, but having options of where to go afterwards for a drink makes it a full evening. The city could have built the large lit sphere, but if there weren’t surrounding restaurants and bars that were willing to stay open, or a pedestrian area for people to gather, or a Social District for people to bring their drinks, or lights and murals to make the area attractive, a sponsor to help pay for the event, or a hotel within walking distance, it would have been an entirely different event indeed.

Downtown is an ecosystem, and its success depends on a healthy mix of strong businesses, shops, restaurants, entertainment options, public spaces, public art, and a commitment to keep moving towards this shared vision.

Anne Gentry graduated from Brown University with a degree in comparative literature and has studied in Italy and South Australia. She is currently executive director of the Alpena Downtown Development Authority.