With new restaurants and shops opening up next door to revamped and restored arts and cultural institutions, downtown Newark has reclaimed its former glory as Licking County’s place to be.

Like most urban cores around the country, the city center fell on hard times with the rise of malls and suburban living. But many businesspeople and local visionaries never gave up on downtown. Now with such major cultural institutions as the Midland Theatre and The Works leading the way, the area has come back full force as an arts, dining and entertainment destination.

“There is something to be said for performing-arts institutions and how, with the correct preservation and activities, they can provide a critical amount of energy,” says Stephen Krempasky, the Midland’s executive director. “The people see not only the excitement of what’s going on at our facility, but they begin to imagine what else could be going on downtown.”

The lavishly restored Midland Theatre serves as both movie house and performance venue, while The Works acts as a combination museum, art studio and cultural center. On the historic side, The 1878 Licking County Courthouse, a French mansard Victorian jewel, presides over multiple other landmark buildings that are finding new uses as downtown Newark continues to reinvent itself.

Take 25 N. 3rd St., where Larry and Kathie Morrison have just relocated their Buckeye Winery, a homegrown operation they opened a few doors down in February 2007. The 5,400-square-foot building gives much-needed additional space to the operation, which offers multiple varieties of ready-to-drink wine along with kits for making one’s own.

“Downtown has been really good for us, so much so that we needed space for more seating, more wine and more wine production,” Larry Morrison says. “We’re thinking about even bringing in some entertainment now, because we’ve got two-and-a-half times the space.”

The new residents are joining forces with such longtime denizens as the Natoma Restaurant, a downtown staple since George Athan opened his doors in the early 1920s, to lure in visitors. And the synergy that’s being created now will only help to pull in more businesses as well, predicts Steve Ehret, president of the Downtown Newark Association and co-owner of H.L. Art Jewelers, which opened in 1936.

“We’re fortunate to have The Works and the Midland, which provide entertainment most weekends, and we see a lot of folks downtown when they have things going on,” Ehret says. “Now they’re also coming to eat, and to shop, for several hours before events, and then staying afterward for more entertainment.”
To capitalize on the influx, the association launched Final Fridays, where merchants stay open late on the last Friday of the month to catch those diners and theatergoers. Other organizations have joined in the efforts to boost downtown visitation as well: Licking County Arts produces the annual Newark Artwalk in late summer, allowing local artists to create gallery space in participating downtown businesses, while daytime visitors and foodies are flocking to the Farmers Market, sponsored by the Licking County Chamber of Commerce and held every Friday from mid June through September.

“We’ve seen downtown through some bad times, but now it’s really come back,” Ehret says. “There are always going to be other places to go in the outlying areas, but we’re getting our share of the pie back, and then some.”