Downtown Muncie Prepares for BSU Freshman Orientation

Ball State University freshman orientation begins Tuesday, June 2nd, and Downtown Muncie welcomes our guests with open arms.

Downtown businesses and merchants are encouraged to take advantage of the many promotional and volunteer opportunities offered over the next few weeks. We want everyone to get involved, to let our visitors know what a wonderful community we are and how much we Downtown Muncie has to offer!

Lots of information here, please read carefully:

Cleanup May 29-30

There is a downtown neighborhood cleanup planned for the weekend of May 29-30. To volunteer, make a donation, or for more information, visit www.lightupmuncie.org or call Ty Morton at 749-0652.

If you can't participate in the cleanup (or even if you can), property owners, residents and tenants are asked to neaten up the area around their buildings or storefronts. We strongly encourage the placement of flowers, and the use of red and white in your windows and displays. "Welcome" signs are available at the Downtown Development office, or email info [at] munciedowntown.com to request one.

Downtown Tours

Heart of the City, Ball State and MITS are partnering for the fourth year to provide Downtown Tours to the orientation parents. Every Tuesday through Friday between June 2 and July 10, two *full* busloads of parents will be brought downtown, and led on a guided tour through our historic downtown district. Dropoff is at 10:50am near the Horizon Center, and pickup is at 11:50am at Muncie Civic Theatre.

Volunteers are needed to be tour guides. The first two weeks of June are mostly full, but we have lots of empty slots in late June and early July. We also need a couple back-up tour guides for last-minute bail-outs. It's just a few short hours of your time, and it's lots of fun! The parents love it, and we get lots of positive feedback on-site.

If you cannot be a guide, please be prepared to welcome our guests, answer their questions and make recommendations of other places to visit downtown. Don't forget we've got Free Friday Night Movies coming up, as well as Freaky Tiki Fridays at Blue Bottle. Our monthly First Thursday gallery walk is another popular family-friendly event to suggest.

Welcome Kits

Each parent is greeted with a welcome kit when they arrive downtown. Bags are stuffed and provided by the Muncie Visitor's Bureau with flyers, handouts, coupons and literature. There is no charge to have your information included (aside from your printing costs). We urge everyone to take advantage of this great promotional opportunity if you can - the more, the merrier! We need 1500-2000 pieces, and the deadline is approaching soon - typically mid-May. For more information, email info [at] munciedowntown.com or call the Muncie Visitor's Bureau or Downtown Development office.

The Visitor's Bureau also distributes city-wide welcome kits to all parents *and* students as they arrive. This service is also provided free of charge. 3500 pieces of material to be included in orientation welcome bags (may be advertisements, coupons etc. All 8 1/2 x 11 sheets must be tri-folded.) need to be dropped off at the Visitor's Bureau office by May 7 (that's Friday!!)

Family Weekend Discount Postcards

All parents who take the downtown tours are given a downtown discount postcard when they arrive. The back of the card will list downtown businesses who agree to offer a discount or "special deal" during BSU Family Weekend in October. The postcard will be self-addressed by the parents during their visit downtown, then dropped into a fishbowl for a daily prize drawing (more on that below).

The self-addressed postcards will be mailed to parents just before Family Weekend in the fall, encouraging the parents to return to downtown Muncie and redeem the offered discounts. This has been a popular program in the past, and there is no cost to participate. You need to just let us know by May 19th what discount or special deal you are offering. Only businesses offering a discount will be listed on the postcard. Call Bob Hartley at The Artist Within, 765-289-7895 or email theartistwithininc [at] yahoo.com if you'd like to take part in this great promotion.

Door Prize Donations

We're also seeking door prize donations for daily drawings at the end of each downtown tour (22 visits between June 5th and July 13th). These door prizes can be large enough to be the "Daily Sponsor" or smaller contributions that go into a "Gift Basket". Please call Cheryl at Downtown Development office, 282-7897, or email chercrowder [at] gmail.com.

Additionally, Muncie Visitors Bureau has partnered with Ball State Athletics and local lodging and attractions to provide a prize package each morning of orientation to one lucky set of parents of an incoming freshman. Our lodging partners have provided complimentary overnight stays. We are now collecting admission passes and gift certificates from area attractions to also be included. 25 pieces or items are needed by May 7. Call the Visitor's Bureau office for more information.

Orientation Guides Downtown Experience

While the parents of our incoming freshmen get to experience downtown first-hand, we have limited opportunity to reach the students themselves. Last year, The Artist Within hosted a successful event for around 30 BSU orientation guides as part of their orientation training. Last year's event was great fun, and the upperclass guides brought home a great downtown experience to recommend to our new temporary citizens!

On May 27th from 6:30-8:30, this year's orientation guides will again take a MITS bus from campus to downtown, to learn how easy and accessible it is. Each of the students will be given a ceramic mug to paint while various Downtown business showcase their offerings through food samples, door prize gift donations and simply helping "work" the event at our studio.

If you'd like to donate door prizes or food, hand out literature, flyers or coupons, come to help out and answer questions, or help in any other way, call Bob Hartley at The Artist Within.

Get Involved!

Please help out and take part in this year's orientation any way you can! We've received lots of positive feedback in past years, and we want to continue to make a good impression on our new visitors. Be proud of our downtown community, we have so much to offer!

Stay tuned to munciedowntown.com for details.


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