Ray Berry

For Ray Berry, White Lion Brewing Company was never just a brewery — it was a way to be part of downtown Springfield’s next chapter. When the brand was in its infancy, the city was buzzing with talk of new development: the casino, the Page Boulevard railcars, a downtown renaissance. Berry, then a downtown nonprofit employee, wanted in on that evolving ecosystem — and he felt downtown was the perfect place for White Lion to take root.

Years on, he credits the brewery’s success to the people who respond to its mission and turn out for its beer, its kitchen, and its programming. “It’s just another piece of the downtown mosaic that people want to be part of,” he says.

As for downtown’s future, Berry takes the long view. He sees the proposed courthouse as a major project on the scale of the casino debate a decade ago — one the downtown core benefits from today through everyday foot traffic and spending, and one he believes should stay somewhere within the downtown ecosystem, where it can help strengthen the corridor for years to come.