‘Heart of Danville’ says tearful goodbye, closing doors after nearly 4 decades
The 'Heart of Danville' will be stopping operations by the end of 2022
DANVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ) – An organization that’s worked for the last 40 years to revitalize Danville’s downtown area will be closing its doors for good by the end of the year.
The Heart of Danville says locals and travelers alike call Danville, Kentucky’s “Mayberry”, proven in 2001 when it won the Great American Main Street award.
Tuesday evening, current and former board members from the Heart of Danville came together to say goodbye to the organization that made downtown Danville what many know and love today.
“We feel as if we’ve let down some of the founding people who have kept this thing going and we’ve talked about that, that’s why it was so important to have Carol here,” said Mary Conely, Heart of Danville executive director.
“Nothing is like it was. You know, that’s just the way it is, COVID just changed everything,” said Carol Senn, founder of Heart of Danville and owner of Carol’s Bridal and Gifts downtown.
The Heart of Danville says it wasn’t able to get re-accreditation this year and with a severe lack of volunteers after COVID, the board voted unanimously on Aug. 30 to dissolve the nonprofit.
“It’s hard to walk away from something you love this much and it’s hard to close it and know the history,” said Ann Yager McCrosky, chair of the Heart of Danville. “We love this little town of ours and we love our Main Street.”
Heart of Danville was created to bring businesses and people back downtown and get rid of shuttered buildings, giving the town of Danville historic pride and beauty.
“There was a time when I spent a lot of time downtown and then urban sprawl came and took all of our downtown businesses away from us,” said Conely. “People know that it’s a sense of place to have your downtown to walk around and visit with the shop owners because every one of the shop owners are my friends and I feel real bad that I have kind of let them down too.”
The Heart of Danville says it isn’t sure if it will open once again down the road and has transferred its assets to other like-minded nonprofit groups.
“It’s personal, it’s our town, we love it,” said McCrosky. “Letting that go is really, really hard.”
