Main Street Vermilion preparing for reopening

Main Street Vermilion still is committed to making sure Vermilion visitors and residents have fun experiences.

Amid novel coronavirus guidelines and precautions, Main Street Vermilion still is committed to making sure Vermilion visitors and residents have fun experiences this summer.

The offices, as well as the Vermilion Arts Guild Gallery, will reopen for visitors June 6.

Marilou Suszko, executive director of Main Street Vermilion, said visitors can view the gallery firsthand, as well as pick up visitor information.

“We think we’re right where we should be,” Suszko said. “We’ve put some planning into this.

“It doesn’t feel right here without our guests.”

The organization plans to follow sanitization and social distance guidelines upon opening, allowing only four people in the gallery at a time.

“We think that’s going to be the most comfortable experience for everybody,” Suszko said.

Starting out, the gallery and office’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m., Saturdays.

Suszko said the Spring into Summer gallery will be available to visit, which includes artwork including photographs, paintings and jewelry.

More pieces also will be available for viewing online at www.mainstreetvermilion.org/artsguild.

Main Street Vermilion is planning other events and activities for the summer.

“As we are approaching things, we’re asking for decisions on things about two months out, depending on what it is,” Suszko said.

The city’s farmer’s market is canceled, the next one to take place in 2021, with restrictions and guidelines being too difficult for the organization to follow fairly.

“It’s not the same experience,” Suszko said. “You can’t eat, you can’t have music, there’s only one way in and out, one person from each household is allowed.

“There’s a lot of restrictions that make it hard.”

Officials are going to schedule Main Street’s triathlon and Chalk It Up.

All Washed Up, a driftwood art contest, is set for September.

The event will be virtual, with the top 10 winners to have their work put on display at local stores.

As for the postcard project, which temporarily was put on hold due to the novel coronavirus, will be launched in mid-June as an online event, which showcases two postcards being put up around the city over seven or eight weeks.

Suszko said with the offices reopening and having seen other businesses in Vermilion start up again successfully, Suszko hopes Main Street will continue to provide support to those businesses.

“We know how businesses have prepared themselves to reopen,” she said. “Our businesses have done a really good job of reinventing themselves and learning how to market themselves, to create safe and comfortable spaces for their customers.”