Members of the Vincennes Central Business District will remain on their own as a possible merger with INVin is now off the table.
Faced with a lack of willing leadership, the VCBD, a group of downtown merchants, last month began discussions of joining with INVin, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing more business to Main Street.
The tentative plan was to roll the VCBD in with IVNin's promotions' committee.
Both work primarily to host events downtown in an effort to bring awareness to all it has to offer, the VCBD with events such the Christmas Stroll, the Gimbel Corner community Christmas tree and downtown trick-or-treating, and INVin with its Autumn and Spring on Main events.
But current VCBD president Kathy Burch, who plans to step down at the end of the year, said the organization will remain its own entity after all.
“I don't know (what we'll do),” Burch said Tuesday morning. “We'll just have to see.
“I really don't know who will take the reins.”
Ellen Harper, executive director of INVin, said the discussions last week took her something by surprise, but after giving it some thought, she believes it best for the VCBD to stay on its own.
Merging with the organizations would, she worried, put too much onto INVin's lap.
“We have Spring on Main and Autumn on Main, and those are the two that we really want to focus on right now,” she said. “We want to build those as they've been great events and continue to grow each year.”
INVin was established in 2014 by Steve Miller, Pioneer Oil Co.'s chief financial officer, in an effort to bring more business to Main Street. Primarily, its efforts have been focused on saving and finding an adaptive reuse for downtown's historic theaters — the Pantheon Theatre and the New Moon Theater.
Its leadership has worked closely with both the VCBD and the Knox County Chamber of Commerce, and often members of each volunteer on one of INVIn's committees.
But it's become a season of change, Harper pointed out.
And each organization, Harper argues, should focus on the goals it deems important.
“There's really nothing to merge,” Harper said of the respective organizations. “The merchants have their events, the chamber has its events, and at INVIn, we have ours. And we all three have boards to govern.
“So I think the VCBD just needs to take some time to really think about (the future),” she said. “Overall, they need to regroup, develop a game plan and figure out where they want to go.”