By: Abbi Heckel

Every town has a beating heart that continues to spread joy and light throughout the community. This year Living Simply Soap is that heart. Whether you’re a fan of earthy scents or bubbly fun scents Living Simply has a scent for everyone and they are always working diligently to create more one-of-a-kind smells that you can’t resist. But Living Simply had to start somewhere and with a special mind behind the brand.

Tanya Brown first concocted the idea for soap-making when she stumbled across a half-priced book that entailed how to create soap. At first this book was collecting dust until one day while Tanya’s ill brother was staying with her she had the idea to try making soap as a fun activity. To her surprise it worked. In fact, she loved the experience and wanted to make more. Tanya gathered more supplies and got to work. She debuted her soaps at the Tipp City Farmers Market and she was a hit! This prompted her to visit the Farmers Market regularly and she kept growing her business until she decided a store front was the next step.

She managed to grab one of the beautiful downtown business fronts and she and her husband got to work. They have now been in business for fifteen years and are going strong. But they needed a little extra help because carrying barrels of product upstairs was no easy feat.

In 2018 Tanya was able to purchase a manufacturing location on North Fourth Street in Tipp to help the soap making process smoother for herself as well as her workers. This was going very well until a sudden fire broke out in the main building and all of her inventory was lost.

Thanks to the Watsons, Tanya was able to take time to rebuild their storefront property while selling soaps out of the hotel gallery in order to keep the business flowing. Tanya and her employees worked tirelessly remodeling the building. The rebuild wasn’t an easy process but when all was said and done Living Simply Soap was even better than before and re-opened at the end of the year right before Winter’s Gathering.

Living Simply Soap has earned their place in the community as well as our hearts. Tanya Brown considers herself a “maker” and we believe she truly lives up to that name. Most of the items you will find in Living Simply are hand made with the exception of only a few products. Tanya is also very keen on getting suggestions and input from customers and making their ideas come to fruition.

Tipp City is proud to have Living Simply Soap in their community and even more so proud to have Tanya Brown and her family. If you’re interested in checking out everything Living Simply Soap has to offer you can visit the storefront at 112 E Main St, Tipp City, OH 45371 or checking out their online shop at https://www.livingsimplysoap.com

By Abigail Heckel

Who doesn’t love stickers? Especially stickers created by students right here in Tipp City! On this episode of the Downtown Lowdown Host Tasha Weaver interviews the lucky winners of the Downtown Tipp City Partnership sticker designing competition.

What is the Middle School Sticker Project?

An idea was sparked to help students take steps in learning the art of graphic design from an early age. What better way to reward hard work than to have the students compete in creativity and showcase what they have learned than to have the winning designs featured on stickers that will be available for the community to buy. Now that is something to brag about!

How to Support the Downtown Tipp City Partnership

It’s important to create an environment for the young minds of our community to be able to express their creativity. Be sure to support the Downtown Tipp City Partnership by visiting their website https://downtowntippcity.org/. See what events are coming up in the future and help contribute to keeping our Downtown beautiful.

By: Abbi Heckel

What are the Downtown Awards?

The Downtown Tipp City Partnership aims to highlight our beautiful downtown businesses by presenting awards voted by the community to the winners. December 1st through December 30th the community picks out the winners of the Downtown Awards at a dinner event held at the Tipp Centre. The night will start off being MC’d by Lisa Santucci. Upcoming projects will be announced but the best part of the night is giving away the awards to the winning downtown businesses. This year was full of surprises and highlighting the must-stop shops in town.

The Winners of the 2025 Downtown Awards

The public library won the non-profit award with the Clothesline as the close runner up. The 2025 Cheers to Excellence best downtown Restaurant award goes to Coldwater Cafe! Be sure to check out their menu and have a taste of excellence. The best downtown Libation award was given to Harrisons. The best downtown shopping spot award went to none other than Living Simply soap. Living Simply soap was actually presented with the Heart of the Downtown award due to a submission recommending them to win the Heart of the Downtown by another business owner. The best salon downtown award was presented to the Hair Bar. The 2025 service excellence award was given to the Yoga Bar & Company. The Cheers to Excellence downtown business award was presented to Bodega, everyone's favorite place to get a brown bag dinner. The best new business of the year was awarded to Seven Sisters Apothecary. Be sure to check out their herbal remedies and wonderful vibes. A special congratulations goes to Midwest Memories, the thrifter's dream, for celebrating 25 years of being located in the Tipp City area. With different booths full of history and mystery you’re sure to pick up something special. Reed Spencer was acknowledged for his 20 years of service to the downtown. The final award was the 2025 Cheers to Excellence award for the Best Volunteer goes to none other than Joanna Pittenger. Congratulations to all of the 2025 Cheers of Excellence Awards Winners.

How to get Involved in the Downtown

Visit the Downtown Tipp City Partnership so you can get more involved in our community and give back to our beautiful town. If you can’t give money, you may be interested in contributing your time and that makes all of the difference when it comes to keeping Tipp City special. Be sure to vote for your favorite businesses and people next December to show your appreciation.