Hometown honor for Historic Downtown Millersburg
Ohio Magazine recently recognized Historic Downtown Millersburg for its thriving downtown filled with small businesses, eye for historic preservation, access to beautiful countryside and attractions surrounding it.
When a major publication honors villages for accomplishments and growth, it usually makes people take note and seek out why that village is special.
Historic Downtown Millersburg could well see a spike in visitors after recently collecting a high-profile award.
Ohio Magazine recently announced Historic Downtown Millersburg has been tabbed as one of Ohio Magazine’s Best Hometowns of 2024-25.
While Taylor Sigler, Historic Downtown Millersburg executive director, hasn’t been in the position all that long, one of her objectives taking over the position was to eventually find a spot in Ohio Magazine’s list of hometown winners.
She just didn’t know the honor would come as quickly as it did.
Sigler was joined by Millersburg Mayor Kelly Hoffee, several HDM board members and several community members, who all submitted applications for the honor.
The information they provided was more than enough to push Millersburg into the upper echelon of Ohio’s Best Hometowns.
It didn’t take long for the Ohio Magazine Selection Committee to embrace everything positive going on in HDM.
“What an honor,” Sigler said. “This is a big deal, and one of the goals at the top of my list was to attain this award. I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to happen this year, but I’ve always thought Millersburg is very deserving of the honor, and this just goes to show that it is.”
She said the ongoing growth in Millersburg played a big role in Ohio Magazine taking note.
In its press release, Ohio Magazine said, “Millersburg has been recognized for its thriving downtown filled with small businesses, eye for historic preservation, access to beautiful countryside and attractions surrounding it.”
The release said Ohio Magazine truly believes HDM is one of the state’s finest places to work, live and visit.
For Sigler, the honor doesn’t reside in her, the HDM board, or any individual or organization, but instead the honor is something the entire community can be proud of collecting.
“When you put it all on paper when submitting for the award, you come to realize just how much our community is in the local schools, the hospital, nonprofit organizations and others,” Sigler said. “We have so many people who come together to help better Historic Downtown Millersburg, and I think that is incredible.”
With that honor now achieved, Sigler said perhaps the new goal should be to get after a national honor, but for now she and the entire community can bask in being tabbed as a Best Hometown recipient.
She said her next objective as far as the award goes is to eventually create a hometown celebration that will bring everyone in the community together to celebrate the achievement.
“I’m shocked and overjoyed, and I really think the people and businesses of Millersburg really deserve this honor,” Sigler said. “Of course, I may be a little biased, but this is going to be great recognition for our village, and hopefully, we can have a big celebration sometime this year to celebrate everything that we are. We’re looking forward to planning some events that play into this honor and give Millersburg the accolades it deserves.”