Building a Better Boyertown: Your “Main Street” Organization
“Main Street America™ has been helping to revitalize older and historic commercial districts since the late 1970s. Today, it is a movement consisting of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation” – Main Street America https://www.mainstreet.org/home
Revitalization of traditional neighborhood commercial districts, like downtown Boyertown, came about as a response to the sprawl of shopping malls, shopping centers, and big box stores. Nostalgic for a more personalized sense of place, people of all generations began to seek the hometown feel, receding from the large cookie-cutter commercial spaces that dominated our municipalities and weakened our small businesses. However, restoring and preserving our commercial districts takes years of work, and maintaining those improvements is an ongoing responsibility. That’s where Main Streets come in.
Building a Better Boyertown (BaBB) was founded in 2002 to provide this economic and cultural stewardship to the Boyertown historic corridor. No two communities are exactly alike, and though Main Street America provides a template for the work we do – The Main Street Approach – it takes a dedicated team of Board members, volunteers, an Executive Director, and support staff to craft transformation strategies specific to Boyertown’s community vision.
BaBB’s revitalization workplan stands on four key pillars designed by Main Street America.
Every Monday in March we’ll look at each of these pillars – Organization, Economic Vitality, Design, and Promotion – in more depth. We’ll give examples of past projects as well as some future goals.
Note: It’s also important to mention that in this revitalization work, we aren’t alone! Along with Main Street American on the national level, we also have a state partner called the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. We’re able to get resources and guidance on the state level from our field directors, apply for state grants, and network with other Pennsylvania Main Street Directors.