Went to Greenville for the first time this past weekend. The thing that stood out to me was walkability. Entire sections of the downtown inaccessible to cars, allowing for people to walk, run, bike, skateboard, etc. This also allows for families with young children to allow their children to play safely without having to constantly keep an eye out for cars. Another thing I noticed was how the majority of ground-floor level businesses were retail/restaurant spaces. In our downtown, many of the first floor businesses are non-retail businesses.
One thing I saw was a collective Calendar of Events (photo attached). This showed all events happening in the area for a period of time. I believe we have something similar to this over by Elk Avenue, but I'm not sure if it's still updated.
Really like the Calendar of Events. An electronic board might be easier to update but it encourages people to "look beyond" whatever brought them to this place. While the board near Millstone is nice, I think a "what's happening" board (or marquis billboard) needs to be closer to Dave Lyle (especially if there is a pedestrian bridge), which might get folks to explore Old Town from the Cotton Factory side of the tracks or vice versa.