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ALTON - During the quarterly “What’s Up Downtown” meeting, entrepreneurs shared more about their businesses in downtown Alton.
On Tuesday, May 20, 2025, the community gathered at the RiverBender.com Building to hear from local business owners and community leaders. Hosted by Alton Main Street, these quarterly meetings allow people to share information about their businesses and organizations.
Scot Heathman, CEO of The Wedge Innovation Center, spoke about The Wedge’s coworking spaces and partnership with SIUE. He explained that The Wedge has several office spaces for lease, classrooms, 14 conference rooms, a rooftop area, a gym, a mother’s room, a wellness room, kitchens, and “lots of amenities” in addition to their coworking spaces.
“This is a place where we can do some good for the community. We can do some good for the people. We can do some good for the region,” Heathman added. “And it’s kind of a blank canvas at this point. We can go in any direction we want to go in.”
Hugh Halter with Post Commons shared that the coffee shop is partnering with Good News Brewing to introduce eight beer taps and wood-fired pizza. The Post Commons building will be open until 9 p.m. for people to enjoy.
“We thought the building is such a great space, and we just wanted to offer the building to be open,” Halter explained. “We started to look for some ideas for that, and we thought, we want it to be even more family-friendly if you want to take the kids somewhere. So we are going to do a partnership with Good News Brewing.”
James Robinson and Tish Emerick spoke about their decision to rebrand B&B Custom T’s and Gifts to Five Oaks. Now located at 418 Belle Street, Five Oaks offers custom clothing, screenprinting, business cards, yard signs and more.
“We just wanted to get a little bit more involved with the downtown area and the downtown area businesses,” Robinson said. “It’s upscale, corporate apparel. We carry a lot of name-brand stuff…We just thought it was a good time to evolve the business and evolve the name.”
Artist Charles Mooneyham shared that he has relocated his studio and gallery, Mooneyham Art, to 305 State Street. After a career in behavioral health, Mooneyham decided to pursue art full-time. He recently hosted the inaugural Alton Art Expo at Milton Schoolhouse, and he looks forward to promoting local art and artists from his new space.
“I decided I was going to leave my job at the suicide hotline and become a hippie artist, and I couldn’t think of anyplace better to do that than Alton,” he joked. “My whole shtick with everything I do is I’m a philanthropist at heart, and I can think of no better way to lift a community than through the empowerment of arts.”
Emily Tucker has opened PlantEm at 302 East Broadway, a new store that offers planting classes in addition to plants. The store will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and Tucker is excited to share her passion for plants with the Alton community.
“Plants, for me, have been a very therapeutic release,” she said. “My store carries more special, rare and exotic succulents and tropicals.”
Caleb Lewis spoke about the Alton Odyssey Tours newly expanded “Welcome to Alton” 90-minute walking tour, offered on select Saturdays every month. He added that Grotto Bike Rentals at 112 E. Broadway will open next month. He explained that his goal is to promote local tourism.
“We’re trying to bring tours to Alton to help stimulate our local economy,” he said. “Our goal with the tourism mindset is to really help everyone.”
John Meehan, who plays Benjamin Godfrey with Alton Odyssey Tours, encouraged people to take the tour for themselves and enjoy learning more about Godfrey and Alton through Benjamin Godfrey’s story.
“It’s really a neat tour,” he said. “It’s really a great, great time.”
For more information about the quarterly “What’s Up Downtown” meetings or Alton Main Street, visit the official Alton Main Street website at DowntownAlton.com.
