By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — The city of Warsaw is moving quickly on one of the proposals pitched last month as officials work to establish a cultural arts district in the downtown.
On Monday — less than three weeks after the entire plan was unveiled — the city redevelopment commission approved plans to hire a firm to study the idea of establishing a festival street, which would transform part of a downtown road into a flat surface that can more easily accommodate festivals.
The redevelopment commission agreed to spend $30,000 for the study with Anderson Bohlander to look further at the concept.
The plan was pitched by Terry Sweeney, Main Street Warsaw’s downtown development director, who also recapped four new programs that were launched in 2025.
Officials are currently eyeing part of North Buffalo Street as a potential location for the festival street, and the study will likely look at where it might be best to make the transformation.
Some officials have said North Detroit Street seems optimal for the project since it is near Center Lake and a proposed city-county parking garage.
The idea of a street festival is one of the biggest proposals that make up an expansive plan to add more artwork and amenities aimed at attracting more people to the downtown.
Main Street Warsaw has been studying the idea of a cultural arts district, which was fueled in part by a new Hyatt Palma Study, commissioned during former mayor Joe Thallemer’s term in office.
No kind of cost estimate has been released because it’s very preliminary, but officials admit it is an ambitious plan that would be costly.
Jeremy Skinner, the city’s community and economic development director, talked about the vision Monday afternoon.
“Yes, there’s a lot of money that would have to be found, but we can’t find the money until we know what we’re looking for. There’s a lot of groundwork that needs to be done,” Skinner said. “It’s gonna take time, and it’s not gonna happen overnight.”
“We got a pretty good start here and a lot of good things that came out of the plan,” Skinner added.
You can see the entire conversation from Monday’s meeting with Sweeney’s presentation at the 18:00 mark.
