The mission of the Village Association of Batavia (VAOB) is to foster preservation, revitalization and to effect a more vibrant Clermont County Seat.

The roots of the organization can be traced to May of 1977. A group of business owners and citizens formed an organization known as Main Street Incorporated with a mission to upgrade the appearance of Main Street and attract new businesses. Architect Gerald Harley was one of the founders. This group assisted businesses with color selection, prepared architectural renderings of building facades and completed the planting of 25 trees throughout the Village. Eventually, this group dissolved.

The current entity, The Village Association of Batavia, was incorporated on March 12, 1992 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Founders included Gregory Cribbet, Timothy Hoberg, Kathy McCoy, Jonathan Nau, Kay Saner, Debbie Smith, Mary Stearns, Donald Toole, Donna Walters and Linda Weidner.

In 1994, the Village of Batavia, with the VAOB as the lead organization, joined the Heritage Ohio Main Street Program. In 2003, a "downtown assessment resource team" studied and provided recommendations to enhance our downtown area. Thereafter, the VAOB commissioned the preparation of a formalized streetscape plan for the "historic district". That streetscape plan is still in existence but was never fully executed given the high cost. However, components of that plan are being addressed incrementally.

The successful Taste of Clermont event is a product of this organization.

In 2008, the Village Association of Batavia reorganized its board of directors, appointing new members. It made a scope change to include the entire County Seat, not just its historic district. We believe that it is equally important to restore and preserve every part of Batavia. In addition, a strategic decision was made to withdraw from the Heritage Ohio program. The benefits of this program did not justify the high administrative costs required for membership. Currently, administrative costs are virtually nonexistent.

The organization meets monthly and its volunteer Board members are comprised of a cross section of our community. Please contact us at info@vaob.com.

Simply stated, our goal is to make the Village of Batavia the best that it can be. There are no membership fees. Everyone is an automatic member of this organization. Let's all work together to showcase our County Seat.