Downtown Brookings is the heart of a community strong in educations, agriculture, and the arts. The downtown offers a diverse mix of over 200 retail, dining, and service businesses that complement the government and historic center of Brookings.

Its many shops and restaurants have a level of variety and quality unmatched in the community. It is a district brimming with diverse events and exciting entertainment.

Downtown Brookings is lined with specialty stores full of necessities and luxuries, large and small, and invites a leisurely browse. Pots of flowers and benches flank shop doorways in season and beautiful trees line Main Avenue to shade shoppers on sizzling summer days. Flower baskets, ablaze with petunia blossoms, line downtown streets in the summer. The downtown transforms into a dazzling lighted village during the holiday season.

Mid-block crosswalks are popular with pedestrians and the 1,850 parking spaces are free. Locals circle the block angling for a spot in front of their destination, but city parking lots only a block off Main Avenue are seldom full.

Shoppers discover antiques, men's- women's- children's- and baby clothing, shoes, sporting goods, flowers, furniture, bicycles and exercise equipment, home decor and gifts, appliances, computers, party supplies, frames, artwork, and jewelry...all within easy walking distance.

An eclectic mix of restaurants serve up unique local flavor and franchise fare. Steak, pizza, pasta, burgers, subs, Greek cuisine, and down-home country cooking fill individual tastes. Homemade specials are dished up in generous portions for bargain prices. Three coffee shops delight their customers with quality espresso and other flavored drinks.

The arts and entertainment are highlighted in downtown Brookings at the Community Cultural Center, five movie screens, and eight night clubs. Live music, pool, darts, video lottery, outdoor eateries, and good friends become the nightlife of choice in downtown Brookings.

Over 1,450 downtown employees work to fill their customers' needs in the public and private sectors and provide the great hospitality for which downtown Brookings is known.

Great news for cooks, kids, and everyone who loves fresh produce: the Farmers Market offers nursery stock, fruits, vegetables, breads, eggs, meats, and grains. Market hours, in the City Plaza parking lot, are every Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. and every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from the end of May through October.

Downtown Brookings welcomes South Dakota State University students and their families as a home away from home during the students' time in the community. In fact, the downtown is responsive to the service and shopping needs of a broad range of community members, SDSU faculty, staff and students, local industries, communities bordering Brookings and the many visitors that come to enjoy Brookings' educational and cultural offerings.

Downtown Brookings has a long history. Brookings was surveyed and platted on October 3 and 4, 1879, in preparation for the railroad. The railroad track and train reached Brookings' Main Street on October 18, 1879, and the railroad station opened a month later.

The community was named after Wilmot W. Brookings, a spirited pioneer promoter, who had been a member of the Squatter Territorial Legislature and was later elected Squatter Governor.

The area settlements of Fountain, Oakwood, and Medary had been bypassed by the railroad and many merchants from those towns packed up their businesses and moved into Brookings.

The difference is downtown Brookings' history, variety, quality, and entertainment.

Shop, dine, play in downtown Brookings.