Casa Grande Main Street details events, budget and new downtown retail incubator at city study session

Holly Nash, executive director of Casa Grande Main Street, told the City Council at a study session that Main Street runs most downtown events and programs with a one‑person staff and a 10‑hour‑a‑week assistant and asked the city to consider additional funding or staff to sustain and expand its work.

Nash said Main Street is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that maintains public art and historic features downtown, organizes the annual street fair and car show, the Downtown Halloween Stroll, Terminus Days and other events, and runs member support programs. She described a planned retail incubator at 108 West Second Street that Main Street will staff and operate in Year 1 and estimated startup costs of about $45,000.

The retail incubator, Nash said, will be fully staffed and insured by Main Street for the first year, with the organization covering utilities and basic operating costs. “We will walk them through the process of city business licensing, tax licensing, helping them learn how to use a POS system and how to market their items,” she said, adding the incubator aims to give small retailers a low‑cost entry into downtown retail and to grow into permanent storefronts.

Nash outlined event and participation figures and costs: the street fair this year registered 248 vehicles, about 115 vendor booths and an estimated 30,000–40,000 attendees over two days; planning time for the street fair is roughly 450 hours; annual costs for the street fair run about $28,000–$35,000; the Downtown Halloween Stroll draws roughly 3,000–4,000 children and 7,000–8,000 total attendees; and Main Street’s contribution to the Libre event is about $3,200. She said the organization uses volunteers but relies heavily on in‑house staff time to reduce costs.

On Main Street’s finances, Nash said 2024 revenues were about $165,000 with roughly $145,000 in expenditures; she said Main Street rolled over about $12,000 specifically for the Dawn Market sign and carries about $9,200 for project maintenance but that estimated maintenance needs range from $11,000–$16,000. Nash said her advertised budget numbers do not include event advertising; last year Main Street spent about $10,000 on advertising and this year’s advertising to date is about $7,100, with a projection of roughly $12,000 by year end.

Councilmembers and other elected officials thanked Nash and praised Main Street’s events and murals. Nash said Main Street secures grants from organizations such as Explore Pinal County and the city’s DMO, and partners with Casa Collective, LFI, the Black Box Foundation and the Rotary Club for specific events. She closed by repeating the request for more funding or an event coordinator if the city wants Main Street programming to expand beyond its current capacity.

Nash answered council questions about staffing and the incubator; she said first‑year operating support will come from Main Street reserves (about $35,000) and vendor contributions (about $10,000) and that additional city support or grants would allow the nonprofit to hire more hours or an event coordinator in future years.