How departing business leader helped downtown Wheaton grow

Elle Withall lives for the kind of moments that happened after "Frida Fridays" in downtown Wheaton.

At its busiest, the festival celebrating the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the College of DuPage brought some 5,000 people to the downtown. Mariachi bands serenaded crowds dining outdoors on Hale Street. Folklore dancers and Frida-inspired art added to the festive atmosphere.

When it was over, a 20-something and his friend came up to Withall, the head of the Downtown Wheaton Association, and had to share: "We've never seen anything like this in Wheaton."

"The best part of that is the businesses, what they gained from that, because we had people who weren't on Hale Street saying, 'I had record sales. I had a record night,'" Withall said. "And that's when you know you're doing a good job."

Withall is departing the downtown business group to accept a position in economic development in another suburb. She's offered to support a smooth transition for the DWA, now searching for a new leader to build on the momentum downtown.

"Elle was the right person at the right time for downtown Wheaton," said board President Tonya Parravano, who owns the floral shop Andrew's Garden with her husband. "She was not afraid to be creative and take quick action to help sustain the existing businesses, and at the same time she focused on bringing new businesses to downtown Wheaton - even during a pandemic."

Withall had only been on the job for two months when the pandemic hit. She would spend the rest of her tenure helping businesses do more than survive.

"We were in the trenches together," Withall said. "That was a life-altering experience that so many people did not ever expect to go through, and we were in it every single day together for a year and a half, and we're still now coming out of it."

During lockdowns, Withall started a Facebook group so that businesses and their customers could "communicate together when they couldn't be together." The "Wheaton Local" page has since turned into a community resource followed by nearly 8,000 people.

In May 2020, Withall worked with the city to close a stretch of Hale Street to traffic so outdoor dining could spill onto the road. That block is now an alfresco dining destination complete with live music and event sponsors.

Last year, Withall and her team had to adapt a roster of events to the COVID-19 era. She's now working to ensure "Nights of Lights" will return to Adams Park for the holidays.

"Wheaton has greatly benefitted from Elle Withall's hard work leading the Downtown Wheaton Association through an extraordinarily challenging time," Mayor Phil Suess said in a statement. "She and her team helped our downtown businesses make it through the pandemic with creativity and perseverance. Despite ever-changing circumstances caused by the pandemic, Elle worked in partnership with the city to help highlight downtown Wheaton as a thriving destination."

Withall never stopped recruiting businesses. Seven opened downtown despite the uncertainties of the pandemic. Amante Marketplace, a boutique of artisan-made lifestyle and home goods, is one of them.

Owner Samantha Raftery credited Withall for helping her find an ideal location on Hale Street, streamlining applications for Wheaton's downtown retail and facade grant programs, and working with the city to expedite permit approvals that allowed her to accelerate the store's opening.

"Without question, my dream of opening a brick-and-mortar retail store would not have come true without Elle Withall," Raftery wrote in a letter to the mayor earlier this month. "She is an asset to Wheaton, and she changed the trajectory of my life."

Withall said she'll miss those relationships, the support of the community that helped her through personal grief: In January, she lost her father to COVID-19.

"I was in this storm of COVID every single day with work, and then all of a sudden, it was my family became a statistic," she said. "That was a really, really hard time. It still is a hard time. But the community again came alongside me."

Withall knows her dad "would be really proud" of what she's accomplished.

"I feel that I'm leaving the town a little bit better," she said.