Downtown Wooster’s Final Fridays wins inaugural collaboration honor

Main Street Wooster honored the Final Fridays initiative as its inaugural recipient of the Downtown Wooster Merchant Collaboration of the Year Award, presented at the organization’s annual meeting earlier this year.

The Merchant Collaboration Award recognizes two or more locally owned brick-and-mortar businesses that work together to create innovative promotions that increase foot traffic, generate sales and enhance the downtown experience. Final Fridays stood out as a model of collaboration, bringing together a wide range of downtown businesses to create community events during the summer months of 2025.

“Final Fridays embodies exactly what this award was created to celebrate,” said Shannon Waller, executive director of Main Street Wooster. “It’s businesses working together in creative ways to create something bigger than any one storefront — an experience that brings people downtown, encourages connection and strengthens our entire district.”

Participating Final Fridays businesses coordinated extended hours, special promotions, entertainment and activities that filled Downtown Wooster with locals and visitors alike.

“We were so excited to bring the vision to life,” said Brittany Tharp, manager of Friendtique. “Our downtown is thriving, but as retailers, we hear a need for later business hours. However, for us at Friendtique & The Nest, that is hard because most of our cashiers are volunteers. So we came up with doing a once-a-month late-night event for people to shop. This is a great addition to other extended-hour events like Ladies Night Out & Window Wonderland. We now can offer five times a year for late-night shopping, DORAs, music and community. All the merchants have been so wonderful of our ideas on how to grow downtown, and we thank Main Street Wooster for the award and prize money for expanding our marketing.”

As the award recipient, the Final Fridays organizers received a $1,000 cooperative advertising package to promote their 2026 series, along with formal recognition for their contribution to downtown vitality.

Building on this success, the Final Fridays Merchant Collaboration will expand the attractions in this series for 2026, kicking off June 26. The upcoming season will feature more participating businesses and enhanced programming, including an Artisan Night Market July 31 in Public Square.

Plans for 2026 include themed experiences, family-friendly activities, live entertainment and coordinated promotions designed to showcase the best of Wooster’s local businesses.

“We are excited to bring our first Night Market to the Northeast Quadrant of the Square,” said Katy Caskey, owner of Sunny Boutique. “Jeremy Pope from Aide Station Running Supply and I saw an opportunity to put more people in front of our stores. It’s more than an event, though. We’re creating a space for local makers, small businesses and our community to come together in a meaningful way. We’re hopeful it becomes one of those nights people look forward to all year long.”

Event details, themes and participating businesses will be announced in the coming months. Community members can follow Main Street Wooster and Final Fridays on social media for updates.