ELKHART — The pumpkins, onions and flowers are thriving at the new SoMa Commons community garden on Division Street, thanks to plenty of water, weeding and personal attention.

Now, city officials hope the same sense of nurturing will take root as work begins to transform the entire neighborhood in the next few years.

The garden, complete with landscaping, benches and a fence, is one of the most noticeable changes in the first phase of work.

“What a wonderful first step in the redevelopment of this historic State-Division neighborhood,” said Mayor Dick Moore, who commemorated the gardens Wednesday afternoon as part of a kick-off to the neighborhood celebration.

Wednesday’s festivities, tied in with ArtWalk, was a celebration of the first steps in what officials hope will be an extensive makeover for the neighborhood led by the SoMa revitalization group.

The mayor thanked the hundreds of volunteers and numerous groups that pulled together in recent weeks to help spruce up parts of Division and State streets just east of South Main Street.

Among the groups Moore credited were the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, which donated several thousand dollars to the project through the Elkhart Community Foundation.

“We wanted to give back to the community,” John Warren, tribal council treasurer told a crowd of about 70 city officials, guests and neighbors.

“There’s no better way than to have all your neighbors working together, growing food together,” Warren said.

After Wednesday, members of SoMa will begin to focus on a multi-faceted, long-range plan that could lead to more improvements to the area and other parts of South Main.

Improving the neighborhood is a key goal because of it’s proximity to Main Street and the growing arts and entertainment district.

“It’s critical,” said Eric Leedy, an architect who is helping oversee part of the SoMa revitalization effort.

More extensive plans for revitalizing the neighborhood are in the works and could be finalized by the end of the year.

SoMa featured tours of two homes on Division Street in hopes of finding a buyer and generating interest.

One of homes, 214 Division, was built around 1875 and was most recently used as a funeral home. The 4,000 square-foot house is owned by Indiana Landmarks, which has poured thousands of dollars in to fixing up much of the exterior, including the roof.

The home still requires plenty of work, but has plenty of potential, said Todd Zeiger, director for the group’s northern regional office.

Inside the home, visitors nibbled on appetizers and sipped drinks while a string quartet performed on the porch.

“It could be a really great live-work opportunity. Or you could have a professional space on the first floor and live on the second floor,” Zeiger said.

Inside the house was a display featuring drawings of possible changes to the Tyler and South Main Street intersection next to the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

Part of the renovation calls for a revamping the intersection by adding artwork and a memorial garden that would honor the legacy of local railroad workers and others.

If approved, the intersection could also see extensive landscaping and construction of a reflecting pool and a pedestrian bridge.

Down the street, more people toured 112 Division, an older house that is owned by the city owned and will soon be used as office space for employees of Downtown Elkhart Inc.

On the porch, Adrienne Frailey sang original folk music while playing keyboards and took a moment to reminisce about living on Division Street when she was a young child.

“It’s nice to see things are starting to come back,” Frailey said.

Back at the gardens, John Quick, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 25 years, browsed the raised beds with his daughter, Madison. He likes the fact the city has improved what had been a vacant lot.

He said his father helped construct the brick formations used on both Division and Sate streets.

Quick remembers when the neighborhood was struggling with the presence of drug deals, but said he’s feeling more optimistic.

“I’m very hopeful,” Quick said. “We’re here for the duration.”