Under bright blue skies and a slight breeze, the City of Shelbyville kicked off a day of celebration with food and fun.

Mayor Tom DeBaun manned a large grill full of hot dogs Friday as part of Municipal Government Day. The city provided hot dogs, chips and a drink until supplies ran out.

Simultaneously, Shelby Senior Services returned to downtown Shelbyville to host the Strawberry Festival.

Bounce houses and children’s games were set up on the new downtown greenspaces as hundreds gathered to enjoy the celebration.

“I see exactly what I said we would see and what everybody believed we would see,” said DeBaun referencing the three-year downtown redevelopment project that was completed in late 2021. “People are coming down and using all the space – the greenspace, the wide sidewalks, they are sitting on the benches and enjoying themselves.

“This is exactly what we said this place would do and I can’t be any happier than I am.”

The celebration continues at 5 p.m. when the city holds a ribbon cutting ceremony to finalize the downtown project. Music, food and games will continue throughout the evening as traffic is closed off to the Public Square.

“I don’t know if you can measure how much this helps because I think as people come down and see it, feel it and experience it for themselves, they will get an appreciation what these renovations mean to our communities in Shelby County,” said Rachael Ackley, Executive Director of the Shelby County Tourism & Visitor’s Bureau. “This gives us a gathering place to meet our neighbors and friends and enjoy time together. This is kind of a dream come true for Nisha (Ciarletta) and I at the visitor’s center because we hear it from people that come in here and visit.

“We are very blessed in the respect that we get to promote this and brag on it and tell the story to people outside our communities that this is happening in Shelby County. We are retaining the past, preserving the past but we are bringing it into today’s nuances, today’s appreciation of so many different things we can do here.”

Friday’s event serves as a trial run for future downtown events including the upcoming Taste of Shelby County on June 10.

“We have people down here walking around from the city, making sure everything is working the way it should,” said DeBaun. “We know it’s a work in progress as far as events go.”