Downtown Milford Provides Council with Update

Downtown Milford Inc. presented their funding request to City Council during ar recent workshop. The organization asked for $50,000, the same funding they had received the past two years. During the public comment of the workshop, Julie Morris questioned whether the fire company and other groups requesting funds from the city were providing the proper information.

“This packet does not have what it should have when they are requesting money from City Council, the DMI, the Chamber, the Museum the Library and Carlisle,” Morris, who gave an address of Cedar Beach Road, said. “You need to give the public, since it is city money, and the public is paying for this, the full 2027 operating budget, prior year actuals, the amount requested from the city, what the city money would be paying for specifically and other funding sources.”

Morris continued, using Carlisle Fire Company as an example.

“The only revenue I could find that was published publicly was from 2024 which the revenue was $4.3 million, and the expenses were $1.9 million,” Morris said. “This was 204 and there was nothing else I could find publicly after 2024, so where are the actual budget expenses for 2027 so they can be looked at by the public and city council to make decisions. Because, personally, I feel $350,00 for 2027 is really low, but if you’re getting revenue in other ways that there are $4.4 million, then maybe $350,00 is not that low.”

When the president of Downtown Milford, Inc., Terry Rogers, spoke to council about their funding request for the upcoming year, she addressed Morris’ concerns.

“Before I get started, I want to address the question asked earlier. The IRS does not require a nonprofit to provide an operating budget to the public. We are required to provide access to our Form 990 which is available on our website. It is also available at the IRS,” Rogers said. “You can simply look up our name. We have included a slide for council with our current budget and our event budgets for this year. As for what the funds given to us by the city are used for, our entire presentation is about that.”

Rogers continued, explaining that the mission of Downtown Milford Inc. was simple. They are an organization powered by volunteers with a passionate commitment to infuse new life into downtown as united community. It is the vision of Downtown Milford Inc. to transform downtown Milford into a dynamic, vibrant hub where people gather to shop, dine, work and celebrate Milford’s rich cultural heritage. Rogers introduced two new board members as well as current members and officers during the presentation. She also introduced the Downtown Milford Coordinator, Sade Truiett, and announced the board had just hired a new assistant, Margaret “Maggie” Tow, the night before.

“As a reminder, Downtown Milford Inc, is a Main Street accredited organization. As an accredited organization, we are eligible for grants and programs that non-accredited organizations are not. In fact, we recently received a Main Street grant that will be used to upgrade our website and revamp our website and do some more promotions.” Rogers said. “As a Main Street Organization, we follow the four main principles to create a thriving downtown area. These four main components include Economic Vitality, Design Promotions and Organization. At Downtown Milford Inc., we have added a few more elements that we feel make us stand out among other main street organizations.”

Downtown Milford Inc. recently did some research on Milford demographics and found an increase of population that was not surprising nor was the economic makeup of the town.

“What was interesting was the number of female and minority-owned businesses in Milford,” Rogers said. “In 2022, the last time those statistics were available, there were 187 female-owned businesses in Milford and 59 minority-owned businesses.”

According to Rogers, the Economic Vitality Committee was looking into replacing and repairing all awnings in Milford as well as bike racks that were a project of Downtown Milford Inc. a few years ago. The Desing Committee was responsible for Milford in Bloom and the banners that were displayed around town. The Promotions Committee was the group of volunteers who put on all the events in town, including Bug and Bud, First Friday, Holiday Stroll and more. They also partnered with the city for the Tree Lighting, the Ministerial Society for the MLK Celebration, Dolce for Comicon and with multiple groups for Juneteenth.

“We are bringing back Eat in the Street this year and hope to have more information about that soon,” Rogers said. “We have added a new event this year, the Chef Challenge, which will have cooks competing using only ingredients they can find at the Farmer’s Market. That is still in the planning stages so more details will be coming. We have decided to keep our July First Friday in Bicentennial Park on the weekend closest to July 4 but keep it on Friday. This year it will be July 3. We have had council members and the community request that we do fireworks.”

Rogers continued that because this year is the 250^th Anniversary of the United States, the cost of fireworks was higher than normal, and estimates were as much as $40,000 for 15 minutes. If Downtown Milford Inc. chose to put on a fireworks show, Rogers stated they may be coming back to council for a donation to offset those costs.

“Our Organization Committee has been very busy as we completely revamped our bylaws and completed our strategic plan,” Rogers said. “Many thanks to our board member Michele Webb for her work on that.”

Several slides were provided to council on the trends the strategic plan would meet. Rogers explained that part of the plan included adding wayfaring signs and possibly a Bluetooth speaker system throughout town for events.

“Our final committee, but one that we are very proud of, is the Multicultural Committee led by Neyda Albarran and Darron Johnson-Wilson. The committee was responsible for the Martin Luther King celebration in January, Juneteenth and the first Friday Hispanic Heritage Festival held in October,” Rogers said. “The Hispanic First Friday festival has grown to the point we are considering making it a festival of its own. This committee is reaching into underserved populations in Milford, encouraging as many cultures as possible to become involved in events downtown. We are seeing significant participation as we offer as many culturally inclusive events as possible.”

Rogers announced that in their new office, located in the former Marvel Building, they had opened the Milford Store with logo items that represented Milford. Downtown Milford Inc. has mugs, wine glasses, stickers, shirts and more for sale to anyone who wants to represent the town. One version of the hats available were made by John Folke, a vendor at the Riverwalk Farmer’s Market.

“In 2025, Downtown Milford Inc. provided over 3,600 hours of free service through its volunteers,” Rogers said. “This is the equivalent of $115,956 in personnel savings to the city. Events like Bug and Bud, First Friday, Holiday Stroll, the Farmer’s Market and the Santa House plus other events brought about 40,000 to the downtown area. Add the partnership events and that number rises to 45,000. The Delaware Tourism Office estimates the average person who attends a festival spends between $100 to $200 on food, activities and shopping. Using the average of $150 per person, events put on by Downtown Milford inc. brought as much as $6.7 million to the Milford economy.”

Rogers pointed out that putting on festivals was not free, however.

“There are many costs involved in bringing those to residents and visitors, including entertainment, insurance, supplies, advertising, portable restrooms, city staff and more,” Rogers said. “I mentioned portable restrooms. Bathrooms alone cost our organization about $2,000 per festival. I cannot tell you how excited we are to have a bathroom downtown now, because that will help a lot. Sponsorships are critical as they help us bring fun events to downtown, to the downtown area.”

Councilman Dan Marabello asked what fiscal year the budget provided was for and Rogers responded it was the 2026 year as Downtown Milford Inc.’s financial year was January 1 to December 31. The funding request will be discussed at budget hearings in May or June.