Main Street director Jay Marks presented operational updates Sept. 10 covering an upcoming playground installation, a new mural, a military-banner program, wayfinding consultant outreach and a revision to recent event attendance figures.

Playground: Marks said city public works has prepared the site and that playground construction is scheduled to begin in October, with installation expected to take about two weeks. Marks said the board will plan a ribbon-cutting when work is complete.

Mural: The artist and the DDA are coordinating final details for a downtown mural; Marks said staff hope the mural will be installed in time for the Artilicious festival later in September but cautioned the schedule is tight.

Military banner program: The board reviewed a sample banner showing a hometown-hero layout listing name, military branch and years of service. Marks said the initial posting for a banner will be honored for three consecutive observances (Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day the following year); subsequent postings will cover Memorial Day and Veterans Day. The fee for the first posting was listed at $1.25 to cover production and installation; an optional additional year of posting handled by DDA staff would cost $50 to cover labor.

Wayfinding and photos: Marks said the DDA received one bid for wayfinding and has asked the SmithGroup for a proposal; SmithGroup also prepared stock photos for MEDC publicity after the MEDC CEO Quentin Messer visited the downtown. Marks said MEDC and National Main Street visitors praised Adrian’s historic architecture and community vibe.

Attendance metrics: The DDA obtained foot-traffic numbers from Cobalt360 and noted an apparent discrepancy. The firm’s initial report used a 7-minute dwell-time threshold; the DDA’s standard has been 10 minutes. Marks said Cobalt360 will rerun the report using a 10-minute threshold; the company initially reported about a 75% increase when using the 7-minute parameter but the DDA expects a smaller (but still positive) year-over-year increase with the 10-minute parameter.

The board had no formal action on these updates; items were presented for information and implementation planning.