In many ways, the first Urban Loft Tour was a way to showcase some of the city’s hidden gems, many of which require only some vision and polish to truly shine again.

Sunday’s event, put on by Main Street Winchester and a host of volunteers, attracted dozens of families to see the apartments, work spaces and ongoing projects building owners have going on in the properties that line the key downtown thoroughfares.

A total of 15 buildings were open to the public on the first tour spreading from Washington Street to Lexington Avenue.

Open buildings included Leeds Center for the Arts, where visitors could catch a sneak peek at a children’s rehearsal for Lion King Jr., Wildcat Willy’s Distillery, where they could taste samples of moonshine ice cream and the Historic Fraternity building, where guests could view the grand ballroom.

The organization had multiple goals in hosting the event but the overall objectives were to celebrate some of the exciting progress that has been made, show that downtown living is viable here and maybe plant seeds with prospective entrepreneurs looking for businesses opportunities.

We applaud all those who helped organize this.

As we have said many times in the past, downtown is critical to our community and our future. This is a step toward making it shine again and showing what is already here.

Events like this not only showcase the great progress and what is already great about downtown Winchester, they allow us to envision what downtown Winchester could be.

They prove that with some work, some attention and some investment, new life can be breathed into the area.