Business View Civil Municipal - July 2023

42 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 7 For businesses who are looking to do improvements to downtown buildings, Aurora introduced a façade improvement program, which matches 50% of costs up to $10,000. Describing a recent meeting with the façade grant team, City Manager, Austin Woods elaborates, “There’s a criterion that we rank and vote on. One of the pieces of that criteria is the building’s history and what it brings to the city of Aurora. We have over 10 different projects that we’re hosting. So, we’re putting $70,000 back into the city, and we’re getting $150,000 out of repairs, painting, roofing, and different things like that. So, that’s going to go before council at our next meeting for approval, but we were able to do nearly every single project that was requested.” Diverse Attractions and Culinary Delights in and Around Aurora For a community of its size, Aurora boasts a surprising array of high-end restaurants, including Third & Main, a popular destination that has been known to attract celebrities and fill the available parking downtown on weekends. Great Crescent Brewery, a microbrewery located in the heart of downtown is another Aurora hotspot. “One thing that impressed me with our microbrewery is that the majority of what they sell there is brewed in-house with local ingredients, and their food is all made with local ingredients made in-house. It’s really impressive. I feel like you won’t see that very often,” Woods remarks. Having three casinos in the region benefits Aurora, even though they are not situated within the town itself. Despite only receiving a small portion of the proceeds, Drury suggests these casinos still have a substantial impact on the local economy, as the revenue generated plays a crucial role in funding quality-of-life initiatives and supporting larger projects in the community. “It is vitally important that they’re here,” he maintains. Aurora is further enriched by attractions such as the Perfect North Slopes, a ski area, which is a draw for visitors from the region and beyond. “People come from as far as Chicago and well into Ohio and Kentucky, to come to Perfect North Slopes to ski. It’s the only facility within 500 miles or more,” he relays. Other destinations in the community include the Creation Museum and