Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Wilmington Fire Department

Downtown Visions and the Downtown Wilmington DE community are proud to support the Wilmington Fire Department as they celebrate their 100th Anniversary.

There are several events happening throughout the City to honor these brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our communities everyday. This weekend you can visit all City Firehouses between 10am-4pm for an open house experience. On Thursday, October 14th from 5-9pm in the 800 block of Market Street come Downtown for some family friendly fun during Curbside Wilmington WFD Happy Hour. There will be 2 bands, Bickel Brothers and Calle Bere and The Attitude performing live, photo booth, free treats and crafts for the kids, Rocky Bluewinkle mascot, commemorative WFD pint glasses for the first 250 attendees and amazing food & drink specials.

Downtown Food & Drink Specials: *Offers valid on both dates, 10/14 & 10/23 unless specified.

• Chelsea Tavern – First Responders get 20% off your entire bill with valid work ID

• Stitch House Brewery - All First Responders receive 15% off of food with valid ID 

• Jimmy John’s – 20% off for first responders on orders in-store at the Market Street location. Must show valid work ID. 

• Cavanaugh’s – 25% off sandwiches, salads or entrees for WFD with valid ID (valid 10/14 only *during regular business hours 11am-3pm)

• Makers Alley – 20% off the entire bill for first responders with a valid ID. (valid 10/14 from 6pm-9pm and 10/23 from 3pm to close)

• DECO Food Hall – 20% off at the bar for first responders with valid ID. Plus enjoy specialty cocktails.

• Spaceboy Clothing – 10% off with valid WFD ID 

• LaFate Gallery – 50% off double matted limited edition prints for WFD with valid ID

On Saturday, October 23rd there will be a parade on King Street starting at 10am and afterwards you can head over to the Wilmington Riverfront for an antique apparatus display & firematic flea market and water fire/rescue boat display from noon to 4:00 PM. Then on Sunday join the Fire Department at Saint Elizabeth’s Church on Broom Street for a fire fighter memorial service at 3:00 PM. It’s going to be a great month of celebrations as we honor the Wilmington Fire Department. It all comes to a fabulous end on November 30th for the centennial banquet at the Chase Center on the Riverfront. This is a private, ticketed event but we bet it’s going to be one heck of a party!

Kathy Orr of Fox 29 enjoys Curbside Wilmington

Meteorologist Kathy Orr of Fox 29 Philly not only gave the weather this week but she also filmed a live segment in Downtown Wilmington highlighting a few of our amazing Curbside Wilmington businesses.

She started her Curbside Wilmington experience at Stitch House Brewery where she was able to sample a flight of local brewed beers.

Then she headed next-door to Chelsea Tavern to meet owner Joe Van Horn while trying out his signature habanero tavern wings and andouille sausage and sautéed gulf shrimp skewers. Joe talks to Kathy about all the great live music happening Downtown including Curbside Wilmington Happy Hours every Thursday night and the return of the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Rodney Square. Kathy Orr knows that for those that live out of town visiting Downtown Wilmington is easy, “it’s a great day trip” she says.

She then strolls down Market Street to Bardea Food & Drink where she enjoys a happy hour cocktail known as Blissful Summer, made with infused raspberry gin. She is excited to meet chef/owner Antimo DiMeo who enlightens her with his unique culinary cuisines including grilled cheese flourless gnocchi in tomato soup and grilled beefsteak tomatoes with bergamou sauvignon sauce over focaccia. Kathy raves that it’s the “best grilled cheese ever”.

We were thrilled to host Kathy Orr for the evening in Downtown Wilmington sampling delicious food and drinks along the way. She plans on coming back on her day off to enjoy our restaurants with her family and friends and we suggest you do the same.

Happy Downtown Dining!

Generous Donations Help Fund Main Street Wilmington Program

Downtown Visions was recently awarded grants from Comenity Bank, Bank of America, and M&T Bank to support the efforts of the nonprofit’s Main Street Wilmington program. Without this generous support from our donors, Downtown Visions would not be able to run the programs, events, and initiatives for the Downtown community.

From its inception, Downtown Visions’ mission has been to help ignite business creation, enhance service delivery of businesses within the Downtown Wilmington Business Improvement District (BID), and ensure the BID is aesthetically pleasing, clean, and safe at all times.

These grants will be used to support DTV’s Main Street Wilmington Program, which provides the following services to the Downtown BID:

• Improve the façades and signage of businesses operating in Wilmington's Downtown BID and ensure authentic restorations of historic buildings by working with the City of Wilmington's Design Review and Preservation Commission and local historical nonprofits, such as the Delaware Historical Society, through our Facade Improvement Program.

• Boost economic development of businesses operating in the Wilmington Downtown BID by providing marketing and event support, and event creation, such as Curbside Wilmington.

• Continue with the visual transformation of Wilmington's Downtown BID to create a vibrant and visually pleasing shopping, dining, and living area through cleaning efforts

• Facilitate connections between civic officials, developers, and business owners to support strong economic growth and investment in the Downtown Business Improvement District.

Main Street Wilmington Program Receives 2021 Accreditation

Downtown Visions’ Main Street Wilmington program has been designated as an accredited Main Street™ program of 2021 for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of accredited programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach™.

Main Street Wilmington’s performance is annually evaluated by Delaware on Main, which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify the local programs that meet 10 national performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building meaningful and sustainable revitalization programs and include standards such as, fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.

As a Main Street America Affiliate™, Main Street Wilmington is part of a national network of more than 1,200 neighborhoods and communities who share both a commitment to creating high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.

In 2020, Main Street Wilmington also established programs to help our Downtown Business Community reopen after the COVID-19 shutdown.

• Curbside Wilmington introduced expanded outdoor dining to support local businesses and encourage patrons to return to the rejuvenated Downtown District during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Expanded outdoor dining allowed Downtown restaurants to expand their patio spaces and outdoor dining into former parking spaces directly in front of their businesses, thereby allowing more seating at safely spaced distances in accordance with Governor Carney’s guidelines. Also, curbside pull-in spots were designated throughout the Downtown area for all businesses, both retail and restaurants, to use for pick-up and curbside delivery. 

• Dine Downtown Deal rewarded customers for supporting downtown restaurants. After submitting 5 eligible receipts from Downtown eateries, diners received a gift card in the amount of 20% of the total meals purchased to the business of their choice in the Wilmington Downtown Business Improvement District (BID).

• Free Valet Parking was started during the pandemic to make it as easy as possible for patrons to visit Downtown Wilmington. It is available on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5-10 PM at 7th & Market Streets.

• Free Shipping Promotion covered the cost of standard shipping for all online purchases made from participating Downtown Wilmington DE retailers.

To date, Main Street Wilmington has helped to build a better Downtown by:

• Helping to create 1,800+ jobs

• Restoring 53 building facades

• Removing 28 roll down security gates

• Providing grants to 72 businesses

“We are proud to recognize this year’s 889 nationally accredited Main Street programs that have worked tirelessly to advance economic vitality and quality of life in their downtowns and commercial districts,” said Patrice Frey, President & CEO of Main Street America. “During an incredibly challenging year, these programs demonstrated the power of the Main Street movement to drive impressive local recovery efforts, champion small businesses, and foster vibrant downtown districts. I am inspired by their hard work and confident that these accredited communities will continue to help their downtowns flourish in the next stages of recovery.”

Curbside Wilmington Happy Hour Returns to Market Street June 10th!

Join us on Thursday, June 10th, as we kick off Curbside Wilmington Happy Hour this summer!

At 5:00PM, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki will kick off the evening's festivities on the 800 block of N. Market Street. Immediately following will be a live performance by Aziza Nailah and her band!

Afterwards, from 6:00 - 9:00PM the 400 block of N. Market Street will be closed to traffic for the summer's first weekly Curbside Wilmington Happy Hour by Downtown Visions with live music by Too Tall Slim & The Guilty Pleasures, followed by DJ Chad spinning Nu Jazz& Soul on vinyl at The Knights Bar!

The best part? It’s completely FREE! Only Good Times (and Good Vibes) required!

This kickoff event is in collaboration with It's Time Wilmington, Gable Music Ventures, Downtown Visions and InWilmington. Thanks to support from JPMorgan Chase, we’ll work together to be bring the BEST outdoor dining and entertainment to Wilmington through the citywide campaign "It's Time To G.O.A.T. (Get Out Around Town)".

Following the event on June 10th, you’ll be able to enjoy live music every Thursday night this summer from 6-9 PM at various locations in Downtown Wilmington through Curbside Wilmington! Be sure to follow us on Facebook the most-to-date event information, including which bands are playing where.

It's Time to Live A Little - so come on down to Downtown Wilmington and join us as we dine al fresco and enjoy live music this Thursday!