Barbara Bigelow likes to keep herself and Main Street busy.

From elaborate events to helping business owners to grant-funded beautification projects, Bigelow described parts of her job as executive director of Main Street Columbus to the Rotary Club of Columbus Tuesday at Lion Hills Center.

“It’s our job to bring people to downtown,” Bigelow said. “We want to keep our downtown vibrant. We want to keep it safe. And we want to keep it beautiful for people to enjoy.”

While many citizens may recognize Main Street Columbus for the 18 events it organizes throughout the year, including Market Street Festival, Bigelow said the nonprofit helps promote the economic vitality of the downtown area. Currently, Bigelow said, the occupancy rate downtown is at about 96%, which she said is “really, really excellent” for the area.

“We have a very active downtown,” Bigelow said. “It’s not because of me. I like to think that Main Street as a whole plays a part of that, and the volunteers and the partners that we have. We have merchants that so want to be downtown. They don’t want to be anywhere else.”

While Bigelow is not in the real estate business, she said she helps to point interested parties toward empty properties downtown, like the old Gilmer Inn lot or other spaces that become available. But most of what attracts business downtown is that it is already “vibrant,” she said.

Some of that, Bigelow said, comes from the 205 second floor apartments located downtown, which means the area is active “24 hours a day.”

But it also comes from investments in the area. Generally, Bigelow said, millions of dollars have been invested in downtown properties over the past few years, including building purchases and renovations by business owners.

Main Street received $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to put toward beautification projects to attract both locals and tourists to the area. This money has been put toward renovations at Leadership Plaza and the creation of a 20-by-50 foot mural by the city parking lot adjacent to Catfish Alley.

The funds are also being used to update the Downtown Columbus Self-Guided Historic Walking Tour, Bigelow said, adding an audio component.

Looking forward to the rest of this year and beyond, Bigelow said Main Street Columbus has been “very, very fortunate” with ARPA funds again, as the nonprofit received $61,000 that it will apply toward projects like a speaker system to play music downtown, especially during events and holidays. Bigelow also hopes to use the funds for a new artistic crosswalk at Catfish Alley, depicting giant catfish swimming across the street.

Other changes are also in the works, Bigelow said. Currently, Main Street Columbus is waiting for the legislature to release $500,000 in a Mississippi Main Street Revitalization Grant, which will be used to improve safer crossings at the intersection of Main and Fifth streets, among other things.

Bigelow credited her partnerships with other entities for Main Street’s success. She said Main Street Columbus often works with the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce and the CVB to promote the area and its businesses.

When one Rotarian asked if the three entities would consider combining, Bigelow answered that it would ultimately be the decision of her board, though sees the three working well together no matter what.

“I’m not saying it’s not a good idea,” Bigelow said. “… I will tell you that the Chamber, the CVB and Main Street work extremely well together. We’re all on the same page and we all have this community in our heart. We work very well independently. If the decision was ever made to group us together, I think we would work just as well as one group. But I’ve never seen a real plan… put before any of us to discuss it seriously.”