Downtown Excelsior Partnership, Inc. is a 2027 Great American Main Street Award Semifinalist!
Twenty years of believing in downtown. Twenty years of people showing up, opening businesses, restoring buildings, volunteering, and making this place their own. Now that story is being recognized on a national stage.
Downtown Excelsior Partnership, Inc. is one of eight organizations selected by Main Street America as a 2027 Great American Main Street Award semifinalist.
Watch Our Story | Twenty Years in the Making
No single video could include every person, business, or project that brought us here. But this is a look at the heart of the story and the people who have believed in Downtown Excelsior Springs along the way.
What is the Great American Main Street Award?
The Great American Main Street Awards are Main Street America’s highest recognition for communities doing exceptional work to strengthen and revitalize their downtowns. Semifinalists are selected from applicants across the country by a jury of professionals in community development, economic development, and historic preservation.
Downtown Excelsior Partnership is one of eight 2027 semifinalists. Three of those communities will be named award recipients at the Main Street Now Conference in Detroit on May 3, 2027.
Why Excelsior Springs?
A downtown people believed in again…
Excelsior Springs was built around the idea of helping people feel better. Visitors once traveled here for our mineral waters, grand hotels, and bathhouses. When travel changed and businesses closed, downtown faced an uncertain future. By the time Downtown Excelsior Partnership was established in 2006, approximately 70% of its storefronts were vacant.
There was no single project that could bring downtown back. Business owners, property owners, volunteers, local leaders, and community partners began rebuilding it one building, one business, and one reason to visit at a time.
We put our historic places to work. Investments in places like The Elms Hotel & Spa, The Oaks, and The Villas helped restore confidence. More owners followed, finding new uses for buildings that are part of the character of Excelsior Springs.
We gave people reasons to come back. New businesses, downtown events, public spaces, and everyday experiences brought residents and visitors into the district. Downtown became a place to shop, eat, gather, celebrate, and increasingly, to live.
We made it a shared effort. Thousands of volunteer hours and partnerships across the community have kept the work moving. DEP helps bring people together, but the transformation belongs to everyone who chose to take part.
Today, the mineral waters and historic landmarks still tell the story of where Excelsior Springs began. The locally owned businesses and people filling downtown tell the story of where it’s going.
“I’ve had the privilege of being part of this story for 12 years, and I know this recognition belongs to far more people than any one organization. It belongs to the business owners who took a chance, the volunteers who gave their time, the people who invested in our historic buildings, and everyone who believed Downtown Excelsior Springs was worth the work. I’m so proud of what this community has built together.”
Lyndsey M. Baxter | Executive Director | Downtown Excelsior Partnership, Inc.
What Twenty Years of Showing Up Can Do
The work has happened a little at a time: a building restored, a business opened, a volunteer saying yes, a visitor discovering downtown. Together, those choices have added up.
$90 Million +
Invested downtown through public and private partnerships
141
Building Rehabilitations
45
Net new downtown businesses
61,000 +
Volunteer Hours
387,972
Downtown Visits in 2025
142%
Increase in Taxable Sales Within the District Since 2014
These numbers tell part of the story. The rest is visible in the businesses, buildings, and people who make Downtown Excelsior Springs what it is today.
Help Us Keep Going
Being named a semifinalist is a chance to celebrate 20 years of progress. It’s also a reminder that this work continues because people choose to be a part of it.
Visit downtown. Support our businesses. Volunteer. Invest in the work ahead. Every person who joins in helps shape what comes next.
Main Street America Announcement
DEP Press Release
Media Contact
Lyndsey M. Baxter
Executive Director
Downtown Excelsior Partnership, Inc.
[email protected]
816.719.9912
