“Learn the Past, Watch the Present, Create the Future”

Shoppes of Historic Downtown Madison & Madison Visionary Partners

By Brandy Booth

DDowntown Madison will always be a unique part of Madison as the historic buildings remain a physical evidence of the past. But as every business owner that is a part of Shoppes of Historic Downtown Madison knows, in order for any downtown to thrive, it must evolve. Shoppes of Historic Downtown Madison is the overarching name of the business owners of Main Street as well as the outlying businesses in the historic district.

Two years ago, these business owners came together to begin collaborating to plan a variety of events to drive more traffic downtown and give Madison more events to enjoy. As the shop owners began collaborating, they found a few hurdles they faced. Fortunately Mayor Finley, who always supports small businesses on the forefront, introduced Melanie Thornton with MVP (Madison Visionary Partners). MVP’s Mission is to connect people who care with causes that matter to enrich the quality of life to the city of Madison. So with this mission in mind, they became an umbrella to support all the events moving forward that the Shoppes of Historic Downtown Madison wants to plan.

Thornton confirms, “Madison Visionary Partners is excited to be partnering with the Shoppes to bring more events to Downtown Madison. We believe that a strong downtown presence plays an important role in a community’s quality of life, and as the Shoppes umbrella organization, we enthusiastically support their mission to bring more fun and family-friendly events to Downtown Madison.”

And with that, here are events the Shoppes are planning to bring to downtown this year.

April : Spring Fling - This event first launched in 2022. This is a great family-friendly event for young and old children alike. Visitors come downtown and check in at