LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At 7th and Market Streets, balloons let you know you're at Ah, Whatta 'Bout Mimi.
Martha "Mimi" McCoy started the birthday celebration business out of her home. In 2010, it ballooned into selling sweets downtown. As tourism increased, festivals and conventions brought a nice boost to sales.
"We've kind of set our calendar now based on those things happening in our city and everything," she said. "Of course, everybody refers to before 2020 and after 2020."
After 2020, she relies on tourists coming through the door instead of locals, but Louisvillians are her favorite customers, including people like Dennis Knowland, who buys a balloon buddy for his mom every year.
"We hang it on the wall there in the nursing home where she's at and she gets to enjoy it every day," he said.
Knowland's from Portland, so on his ride over to the small business on Tuesday, he crossed 9th Street.
It's known as a historic barrier separating city developments and one Mayor Craig Greenberg plans on transforming with $15.5 million in federal funds for more welcoming improvements like public green space.
It's part of the bipartisan infrastructure act. Another project, the Broadway All the Way project, has invested in a $5 million Broadway revamp making the street friendlier to pedestrians and bicyclists.
In March, the city's also installing LED lights on the underpass connecting downtown and NuLu on Market Street.
With Churchill Downs, Inc., investing $90 million into Derby City Gaming Downtown, Greenberg's not the only one betting on Louisville. He wants to reimagine downtown, but it'll come with answering some crucial questions like: which comes first, the grocery store or its customers?
"It would be great to get a grocery store in downtown Louisville," the mayor said. "That would help give folks even more encouragement to build residential units. There's a little bit of a chicken-and-egg game, and we're trying to address that."
The mayor also shared he's working with state legislators to get some of the state's billions of dollars in budget surplus to fund a redesign of the Belvedere.
For entrepreneurs eyeing downtown, the city has a loan program available. New and current downtown businesses can also apply for aid from the Louisville Downtown Partnership.
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