Downtown Springfield, Inc.

Join us for Halloween at the last outdoor market of the season!

This is your final chance to apply for DSI’s first Festival of Wreaths before the application closes on Thursday! Sangamon County teachers - you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity!

Apply now: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1SbSdoWwY-Ou2eW-Ak1UA5rIhRHup88r9OfSt1YyT8olwWg/viewform

🧐Who wants to live downtown?🧐

Actually, a lot of people do‼ All the available units to rent or own are full 90%-100% of the time. What that means is that we're at capacity and we need more. That's backed by the studies for a last three master plans going back to 2002.

Downtown has roughly +50 unit coming available over the next year. Now, these will be market rate, so the still needs to be a focus on affordable housing. 🏠

What you see in these images are progress and opportunity. Some of these are in the works and some need work. 👩‍🔧

So, to answer the original question, it's typically early adopters, empty nesters, dual-income/no kids, and white-collar professional.

Aw shucks, our team is blushing! 😊 Last night our small-but-mighty team was named a 15 Under 15 winner from the Springfield Business Journal Illinois and United Community Bank.

As a former business association turned community nonprofit, we’ve proudly rooted from the sidelines for the plethora of downtown small businesses who have taken home this award in the past. It was a surprise and honor to receive one ourselves!

(Unpictured: Our superstar associate director and professional problem solver Cassie Grey-Sautlet.)

Congratulations to all of this year’s small businesses, and an extra shout-out to our downtown neighbors and fellow awardee Star Graphics & Media!

Thank you to the City of Springfield-Municipal Government for publishing these closures.

"Halloween parade street closures in downtown Springfield (Oct 2026)

HALLOWEEN PARADE – STREET CLOSURES
The Parent Place Annual Halloween Parade will take place Saturday, October 24, with temporary street closures in downtown Springfield.

STREET CLOSURES
~Jefferson Street: 4:30 p.m. between 9th and 7th Streets
~Remaining parade route: Closed by 6 p.m.
~Streets will reopen following the parade.

PARADE ROUTE
Jefferson Street west to 5th Street, south to Monroe Street, east to 6th Street, north to Washington Street, and breakdown.

PARKING RESTRICTIONS
Vehicles parked in the signed staging area and parade route between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. on October 24 will be towed.

Please plan ahead and use alternate routes."

🫶Shaping downtown starts here for the new year. 💕

📅Every quarter, DSI print many hundreds of brochures* for our residents and guests to see all that downtown has to offer. As new things come, we want to put out our best, most accurate inventory and experiences.

Our ideas for 2027 is to provide more like...

📌 - an art walk that shows all of our public art
📌- a map of free and accessible parking
📌- a list of FREE community events
📌- a section for meeting and event spaces
📌 - a catalog of hidden gems that don't always fall into neat categories

What do you see that should be added?

*Pictured are only 4 of the 12 total pages

Thank you to State Historic Sites at Springfield, IL and Studio on 6th, the Original Art Co-op for making downtown an experience for everyone.