Dowtown Mountain Grove Starts Small Business Incubator In 2001, the Downtown Association of Mountain Grove began brainstorming for ideas to fill the empty buildings along the historic downtown square while also trying to increase the organization's limited resources. Ken Lewis, the Downtown Association's director, said "our goal was to grow the city, within the city." The answer was to create a small business incubator. An incubator encourages entrepreneurs to start a small business by providing the individual with a storefront at below market costs, access to mentoring, education, and financial assistance. The Downtown Association applied in 2002 for a Delta Regional Authority grant to redevelop a building on the north side of the square. On June 13, 2003 the building was purchased and renovations began. The ground level of the incubator consists of two storefronts of 2,000 sq feet each. AV Studios was the first business to take advantage of the incubator. Chad Sigafus from AV Studios said, "Ken and the downtown incubator really helped us out in a lot of different ways and we recommend anyone to get with them if you are starting a business." Since then, the Fairytale Closet and a women's clothing store have also started in the incubator. In the next year, the Downtown Association is looking to expand the incubator for service professionals by remodeling the second floor of the building to accommodate up to six separate one/two man professional offices. The Downtown Association's Incubator is located at 105 E. 2nd St. in Mountain Grove, Missouri. They are continually taking applications for start-up businesses and can be reached by contacting Ken Lewis, 417-926-7944.