We're live at the Downtown Tupelo Main Street board meeting. We're inside the CREATE board room.

Papa V's Deli catered today's event.

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Disclaimer: I'm typing as people are talking. There may be typos. People also have a tendency to talk at the same time, so I can't always hear everything.

And, I'm not typing every word. Think of this more as the highlights of the meeting.

Something doesn't make sense? Corrections? Have questions?  Ask.

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Board President Duke Loden calls the meeting to order at 11:48 a.m.

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Financial reports from Paul Mize:

Total assets - $232,801.78

Wine Downtown - Budgeted income of $4,000. Income so far is $11,335.00. Still some expenses to be billed. Believe we did turn a profit and it was a good event.

Elvis Fest - Good cash position right now.

Loden: A lot of entertainment deposits made in April - that's why it's a negative for April. We've paid half our money.

Net income for Main Street YTD: $54,766.11

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Design committee update from Brandon Bishop:

We're still working on design and codes for downtown. We were hoping to have something to you this month, but we have photos to format and we didn't want to rush it. We're hoping to have something to you after Elvis Fest.

Exec Director Debbie Brangenberg:

We did right with the city's code department to see issues downtown. See what the issues are and how enforcement is done. It was very helpful.

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Association update from Brangenberg:

We have applied for a grant from Department of Archives from state for a historical resource inventory. We should have heard by now, but the state says we won't hear until the middle of May.

Also, Daphene Hendricks (marketing for Main Street & Fairpark) had an opportunity to move to Park & Rec to work in a part-time position to promote the aquatic center and others. She'll continue to work part-time for us on the Elvis Fest.

She's also going to be able to do work on the side and develop her dream of having her own business.

We're taking our time to look at job responsibilities and to see what we need to do. We're looking within our board for creative talents. In the meantime, we'll continue on and depend on volunteers.

BJ Teal: Daphene has come along at a good time for us. We terminated our contract with someone who was doing editing for the development code. Daphene has agreed to do that.

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Volunteer update from Tammy Rodgers:

We need more volunteers at the Fairpark side. The 5:30 to 8:30 slots went first. Need more fresh blood for other times.

Ex-prez Jim Goodwin: Volunteers for the festival become volunteers for the board and then board members. Events are more condensed so there will be less dead time. The volunteers are going to be more like ambassadors for the city. They'll have binders with things to do and frequently asked questions.

We need a host for the VIP area, which is for the sponsors. We need to make sure food is replenished and everyone has a good time. We need one person right now and this is an urgent need.

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Membership report from Allie West:

5 new members. Total members now 142.

New members:

• Churchill Mortgage
• Downtown Curb Market
• Mossy Oak Properties
• WLM Insurance
• Strategic Wealth

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Wine Downtown update from Blair Hughes:

We had 300 tickets this year. We sold out a week before. Complete success.

We started at Trustmark Bank and they were a great host for us. They had a rose for each female attendee. They went out of their way to make it great.

We had 15 stops. They drank us out of wine. Big party on the roof after. Big thanks to Johnny Robbins who helped us procure all the wines.

Brangenberg: John & Sherry Avila really went above and beyond with their service. They were pouring a Portugese wine at Reed's. John is front Portugal and speaks Portugese. They had recipe sheets and they were telling everyone the history of the wine. I thought that was a special touch that we could add to the event.

Hughes: We also had Meiko. She and her husband were at Main Attraction pouring sake. We're trying to add new layers like that.

Allie West: Photos are now on Facebook. Tag yourself.

Richard Tucker: Thought it was interesting that people said they liked the stemless glasses over the stemmed glasses. We're going to stick with stemless.

Hughes: We haven't done final accounting yet. We'll have all the numbers next meeting.

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Downtown Dollars update from Craig Helmuth:

Mother's Day and graduation coming up. Perfect time to buy these certificates as gifts.

Had a little uptick in sales last month.

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Farmer's Market update from Craig Helmuth:

Initially set our opening for May 19, but the weather has been great and producers have good to sell. It's the earliest we've ever had it.

We've been open for last two Saturdays. Pretty good turnout for a soft opening.

The market has vine-ripened tomatoes grown in Tupelo. 'Maters now available.

Feast for the Farmers fundraiser is Friday, May 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $35.

Devilish Mary's also having an event this weekend. Block party is Saturday. His Hers is having an

What's the money going to? We're having a mural painted on the brick wall next to market.

(Showing drawing of the mural. Says "Buy local produce" and has a farm, a tractor and lots of plants.) Students from Tupelo High will paint it. We have to buy the paint and the scaffolding.

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Downtown Main Street road project update from Brangenberg:

We got final approval from FEMA for East Main Street this morning. We hope to be really heating up the design process to get that going.

We have a positive conclusion and we're happy to report it. Thanks, Jon Milstead.

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Report from Mayor Jack Reed Jr.:

The wheels of government move so slowly sometimes. Persistence paid off with FEMA. It was the beaver dam that got dynamited today.

Debbie is now certified as a project coordinator.

When I became mayor, I realized how much the county takes advantage of CDF and the city wasn't taking advantage of the human assets at CDF. We have two great people leading that we're really excited.

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Upcoming events:

• CDF is having annual meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Furniture Market. Dinner is at 5:30 p.m. and then having

• Ribbon cutting at Haire Wealth Management Green Space at May 15 at 4 p.m.

• May 17 is last day to buy discounted tickets for Elvis Fest. They are $24 to get you in both nights. Advance ticket sales serve as rain insurance for Main Street. Advance ticket sales are through Ticketmaster.

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Meeting adjourned at 12:23 p.m. Any questions?