News from Downtown Bloomington, Inc

Fiesta del Ontono - Fall Festival - Saturday, October 11, noon - 4pm at Byran Park
Big Red Beer Festival - Bloomington Convention Center, Thursday, October 16 &

Friday, October 17, 6 - 9pm
O'Brien Historic Preservation & Indiana Main Street Conference - October 16-18
Hilly Hundred - October 17-19
Promotion Meeting - Thursday, October 23, 8:00 am Bloomington Cooking School
Fashion + Function + Art - Buskirk Chumley Theater, Thursday, October 23, 7pm

IU Football Home Game - Homecoming Saturday, October 25

Free Bus Rides on First Saturdays

Bloomington Transit is partnering with with the Monroe County Public Library to provide FREE rides on the first Saturday of each month, everyone can ride Bloomington Transit fixed route and BT Access service absolutely free. Just show your Monroe County Public Library card to ride any BT bus for free the first Saturday of every month starting October 4, 2008.

"We are excited about the opportunity to encourage individuals and families to make their public library and downtown a Saturday destination using our City buses. This partnership means that everyone can discover all that our community has to offer downtown while saving gasoline and helping the environment," said Margaret Harter, Community Relations Coordinator of MCPL.

The Monroe County Public Library is located downtown at 303 East Kirkwood. You can call 349-3050 or visit www.mcpl.info to find out about library programs and services.

Bloomington Transit is the Public Transportation Corporation for the City of Bloomington, Indiana. Fixed route service is provided on nine routes serving most areas of the City. Bloomington Transit also offers BT Access, a specialized service available to persons with disabilities who are unable to use regular fixed route services. Persons seeking more information on Bloomington Transit services including BT Access can call 336-RIDE (7433) or visit www.BloomingtonTransit.com.

Goods Gourmet

Goods Gourmet, branched from Goods for Cooks, will open Friday, October 3. Goods Gourmet will specialize in food products. Here is a sampling of what the store will offer: country ham, country sausage and bacon from Broadbents' in Kentucky will be available as well as new Stonewall Kitchens offerings, a selection of olive oils, Irish-inspired flavored sausages from chef Glen Brody, organic & whole wheat pastry flour from Greenfield Mills in Howe, IN and an opening selection of 14 cheeses.

Stop in and see why Gourmet Foods is Goods for Cooks fastest growing sector. Many items are available to taste and staff are always happy to discuss ways to use the products.

Shared Trash Facility
The City of Bloomington and several downtown restaurants are collaborating to utilize a shared trash facility. Nick's English Hut, Village Deli, Bloomington Bagel Company, Runciple Spoon and Panda Express will make use of a single trash compactor accessed by magnetic key card. This is an effort to clean-up and beautify the alley way between Kirkwood and 6th Street. Other alleyways in the downtown area are being looked at for another possible shared trash facility.

Check out this opportunity from the Bloomington/Monroe County CVB...

Think you can't afford an ad in the Bloomington Visitors Guide? Think again!

The Bloomington/Monroe County CVB is offering a very special cooperative advertising promotion this year that is available to members of Downtown Bloomington, Inc. The Downtown section is back this year, but with a whole new look. In order to make the Visitors Guide more accessible to small, independent downtown businesses, the newly designed Downtown page will have even more spaces available - 30 in all.

These new, pre-formatted spaces will allow you to provide us with one color logo, plus your business contact information. By offering this special pre-formatted option, we are able to hld down design costs and actually lower this year's downtown page rate!

By purchasing one of these pre-formatted spaces under the DBI header, your business will be able to have a presence in Bloomington's official travel information source at a greatly reduced rate of only $250 - that's less than $2 per day!

If you'd like to have a larger presence in the guide with a full color display ad, just let us know and we'll be happy to discuss your options.

For more information about advertising or ad contracts in the Bloomington Visitors Guide, contact Tosha Daughtery at 812.330.4303 or tosha@visitbloomington.com

Ad contracts are also available at the Downtown Bloomington, Inc. office. Please stop in or email.
Limit one space per business. Not eligible for any additional discounts.

Middle Way House

Fall Luncheon

Indiana University Women's Basketball Coach Felisha Legette-Jack will the be keynote speaker at the annual Middle Way House fall luncheon on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 from 11:00 AM until 1:30 PM at First United Methodist Church.

Call Susan Lyons today to make your reservation, 812 333-7404 or email susanblyons@gmail.com. $25.00 per person and tables of 8 available for $175.00.

Proceeds from the fall luncheon support Middle Way House, a national model domestic violence program and rape crisis center. www.middlewayhouse.org

New Members

Mediaworks

Siam House

Business Location Update

Neannie's Cafe - Now Closed

ReFrame - 402 W 6th St

kirksmithstudio - 118 S College Ave

Tabor Bruce Architecture & Design -

1101 S Walnut Ave

It's Stop and StART - Round 2!

In Partnership with BEAD, The Bloomington Area Arts Council announces a Call for Entries for Stop and StART Round 2.

The BAAC invites artists or community teams to submit proposals to transform unassuming city traffic boxes into gateway public art for the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District. Six boxes, each in an area possessing a unique character, have been selected for transformation. Designs for the boxes should reflect the vitality and innate personality of their location, as defined by BEAD. Selected artists will receive an honorarium of $250 plus paint.

Six artists or teams will be selected by a panel jurors from the community. The judges will base their decision on originality, visual excitement, and appropriateness of design for the specific character area. Two-dimensional media including paint and/or collage will be considered. Paint will be provided. Artists must provide their own insurance, brushes, cleaning supplies, and drop cloths to protect the sidewalk. Finished traffic boxes will be sealed with a graffiti-resistant coating and will be maintained by the City. All final images will become the property of the City of Bloomington and may be reproduced at the City's discretion. Deadline for submissions is Friday October 17, 2008. Entry form may be downloaded from www.artlives.org. For more information contact Ed Vande Sande at ed@artlives.org or 334-3100.

Box Locations for Second Round:
3rd St. and Walnut St.
3rd St. and Washington St.
3rd St. and Lincoln St.
7th St. and Walnut St.
10th St. and Walnut St.
10th St. and College Ave.