By Shelley Swift | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — There was a flurry of chatter at the Twenty North Gallery in downtown Greenfield Saturday morning, as a group of elementary school teachers from Indianapolis painted peace poles as part of a team-building exercise.
The workshop was part of a collaborative one-day event among downtown merchants, who offered sidewalk sales and other special events to draw customers downtown.
The teachers started off the day with breakfast at Lincoln Square Pancake House before walking to the gallery, where they painted colorful wooden posts to decorate their school’s learning garden.
Jenny Fain, who lives in Zionsville, said she was happy for the chance to visit downtown Greenfield for the first time.
“It seems like a super welcoming, homey town,” she said.
Lisa Robinson and Sally Mitchell were also happy to be out and about on Saturday. The friends and neighbors, who live just north of Greenfield, made a day of it, shopping at several stores and stopping for lunch at The Grind.
Robinson said it was the perfect way to spend an overcast Saturday afternoon.
“I’ve been wanting to come in here, but I haven’t had the opportunity,” she said, as she and Mitchell perused the merchandise at The Gilded Nest.
The shop’s owners, Jamie Cook and Mary Schuck, organized Saturday’s downtown event after reaching out to fellow merchants.
“We don’t have parking (by the shop), so we’ve done pop-ups all along to draw customers in,” said Schuck. “We started talking with other merchants, and thought why don’t we all do it on the same day to draw a lot more people downtown.”
An influx of customers is especially welcome after a particularly tough year for small business, she said, when many merchants have struggled to stay afloat throughout the pandemic.
Fellow retailers and restaurant owners quickly got on board with Saturday’s event, and even got some marketing help from Greenfield Main Street, the nonprofit tasked with promoting the historic downtown and its retail district.
Charlie Vetters, owner of Organic Robot custom screen-printing shop, created an online map accessible by a QR code to help shoppers find their way from store to store.
Vetters was among the merchants who set products out on the sidewalk beneath a tent on Saturday, despite the rain.
Beneath his mask, he was all smiles as guests stopped by throughout the day.
Vetters praised his fellow merchants and Greenfield Main Street for banding together to promote the downtown shopping district, and each other.
Schuck echoed that sentiment, saying there’s a lot of camaraderie and mutual support among local merchants.
“It’s been so much fun working with the other businesses. They tell customers where to find us, and we’ll tell our customers where to find them. It’s been awesome,” she said.
Vetters said the community support for small business has been phenomenal, especially considering the economy has taken a big hit over the past year.
“When the stimulus checks came out, I had two moms who came in with their kids saying they wanted to use their checks to shop local, so they came in to buy some shirts,” said Vetters, who opened his shop in November.
Schuck and Cook have also marveled at the amount of community support that’s come their way.
They opened their shop last June, at 16A N. State St., in the space just north of Main Street that previously housed eateries like Hey Cafe, Little Italy and Soup Herb.
The longtime friends — who only sell merchandise from Indiana vendors, most of which are from Hancock County — are thankful that the community has been so welcoming and receptive.
Vetters feels the same way. He knew it would be tough to open amid the pandemic, but said he couldn’t pass up the richly-furnished retail space at 113 W. Main St. when it became available.
He’s gotten creative to generate sales.
Earlier this month, Vetters hosted a local band of teenage musicians, who played for an hour in his shop while he printed up T-shirts with the band’s name on them for fans. At the end of the night, he gave the band a share of the proceeds.
He often prints shirts for events on-site, like he did for a recent beer tapping at Wooden Bear Brewing Co., and he’s invited nonprofits into his shop to talk about their organizations with the public, who may in turn want to buy shirts and other merchandise to support them.
“When I opened, I made the decision to set aside a percentage of my proceeds to local charities. I want to support the community that supports me,” he said.
