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Havre close to applying for Montana Mainstreet Community

Two months after hosting a meeting about turning Havre into a Montana Mainstreet Community, a board has been appointed, information collected and planning is underway to do just that.

"The application for Montana Main Street is open on Oct.1," Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss said. "Our plan is to apply."

Tuss added that there has been pretty significant interest from the community and has also received great support and interest from local businesses.

Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, Bear Paw Development Corp. and the city of Havre spearheaded getting the process started, hosting the informational meeting.

Steve Helmbrecht, owner of Helmbrecht Photography, is the chair of the Board of Directors created for the project, with some of the other board members including Alyssa Crawford of Crawford Distillery, Kimmi Boyce of Boyce & Berry, Marlys Flathers of Flathers Properties and Erica Farmer of Northern Montana Vision Care.

Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jody Olson said the planning is going well.

"I've been to all the meetings and there has been a lot of excitement and a lot of interest," Olson said.

She said the board has created diferrent steering committees in categories for different main street projects such as art and beautification, walkabilityand more for the downtown.

Tuss said many ideas are out there about how to spruce up downtown, how to make it more vibrant, how to make it more business friendly, how to make it more water friendly, pedestrian friendly and more. He added that funds are available that the programs wants to pursue as a main street community, but the primary objective is to become a main street community and have that designation to allow them to take advantage of the technical services assisted by the Montana Main Street Program.

The Montana Main Street Program is planned to help communities strengthen and preserve their historic downtown commercial districts.

In order to be an affiliate community, Olson said, the board has to answer some questions on the paperwork that include: 

• What is your interest in becoming Montana Main Street affiliate community?

• What does your community plan to accomplish as an affiliate member?

• Briefly list and describe in community downtown revitalization efforts and projects recently completed.

• List three most important goals over the next two years.

• Describe the level of interest.

• Describe the general condition of your downtown.

• Are there any listed on the national registry of historical places?

Olson added that she collected answers to compile to send in.

The program, established in 2005, is collaborative effort between Montana Department of Commerce's Community Development Division and Montana Office of Tourism, the program website said. The program helps communities strengthen and preserve their historic downtown commercial districts by focusing on economic development, urban revitalization, and historic preservation through long-range planning organization, design and promotion.

The Montana Main Street program offers technical assistance and expertise to member communities and awards competitive grant funding to communities actively working on downtown revitalization, economic development and historic preservation, the website said.

Tuss said the key is taking local visions and making them real.

"The plan is to take the ideas that the local people have and create a master plan for this downtown area, so that would probably be the priority number one," Tuss said. "The ultimate goal is a more vibrant downtown. I think the end goal is to have downtown Havre more attractive to visitors, more attractive to existing residents, a magnet for business investment and the beginning of a revitalization process for downtown Havre."

 

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