Dear Business/Community Member, 

The 2025-26 Canton Main Street Association partnership drive is underway! We are asking for your financial support to allow us to continue to engage in economic development programs and to promote Canton businesses in events, infrastructure and beautification projects. 

Having access to a nationwide network of professionals that help guide our efforts at improving Canton gives us an advantage over others struggling to turn around their communities. We attend workshops to help us find the best resources and practices for communities of our size. 

It takes volunteers and stakeholder support to make Canton Main Street a success. Over the past 4 years our members have contributed 7,339 volunteer hours. That is nearly 306 days of volunteer service! We have a board of community volunteers who genuinely care about the future of Canton and strive to improve it on a daily basis. 

Our first event of the year was the Pelican Bob Car Show and Block Party on May 3rd in downtown Canton. A car show and cruise, block party barbeque, vendors and a children’s kiddie car parade were held to kick off the summer. This event is planned in conjunction with the River Bluffs Paint Out artist competition to draw a larger, more diverse crowd. It was well attended the past two years and brought several hundred people to town for the afternoon. This is an annual event we look forward to each year! 

● Zombies on the Hill fall event at the shopping area near Walkup Family Treasures. This event includes a scavenger hunt, kid’s activities, tractor show, live music, vendors, food and bonfire. 

● Christmas in Canton kicks off the holiday season along with an entire weekend of “Christmas in Canton” activities including The Christmas Parade of Lights, Santa at the library, home tours, Christmas vendor market at Gather Event Venue and children’s activities to bring people to town December 5th - 6th

● With the support of the city of Canton we opened the Canton Welcome Center, located at 103 N. Fourth Street! This is the home of Canton Main Street. Currently, we are awaiting the finish of the remodel project in the back area. This will be a meeting place for our board and other community groups when needed. We are working to get a volunteer schedule to have the Canton Welcome Center open during limited hours and events. 

● We partner with our local Canton R-V FFA class to provide beautiful plants and flowers in the planters located in our downtown area during the spring and summer months. We also decorate the planters in the fall and winter months with seasonal decor. 

● We partnered with Culver-Stockton’s Business Management class to create projects for Canton Main Street that are meaningful and provide real-life experiences for the students. The projects included: a 5K Walk/Run fundraiser, Canton Main Street website 

development, adding an Instagram account for CMSA, designing a future skate park for Canton, designing merchandise to sell at the Welcome Center, helping with our block party, and a golf tournament fundraiser for our facade grant program. We were amazed by the students’ creativity and dedication. It was a win-win for both of us! 

● We continue to add details to our new Canton Main Street website to promote Canton events, attractions and businesses. Our website address is: cantonmomainstreet.org. Check it out! 

● We worked with a local farm family to bring an outdoor Farmer’s Market to Canton, located at Canton City Hall parking lot on the 1st & 3rd Saturdays from April - October. We look forward to busy Saturday mornings in Canton! There are also other opportunities to buy/sell fresh produce and merchandise on Friday evenings from 5-7 pm at Gather Event Venue at their indoor Farmer’s Market located at 507 Clark St. from May - October and at Walkup Family Treasures daily Amish market. 

● We created a facade grant program to improve and preserve historic downtown business fronts with awnings, masonry work, window repair, paint and signage to help attract new businesses to our area thus stimulating and growing our economy.

 

● Replace downtown Christmas light pole decorations and add hanging lights on Fourth Street. Project goal: $10,000. 

● Purchase additional planters and benches in the downtown area. Planters and benches can be purchased as a memorial or in honor of a loved one, friend or community organization. Project goal: $5000 

● Fundraise our facade grant project. This project helps current or new businesses in the downtown area purchase awnings, lighting, signage, and windows to make their building more attractive in the business district. Our focus is to preserve the historical integrity of the building as much as possible. Grants are awarded from $500 -$2000. Project goal: $10,000. 

● Bring more promotional events to Canton such as live music in the parks or downtown area, live performances at Lewis Street Playhouse, seasonal events and much more! Project goal: $10,000.