By Brooks McCabe
Main street shops in Fairmont.
The main streets in the Mountain State are alive and well, due in large part to Main Street West Virginia, a program that provides technical assistance to West Virginia’s nationally certified main street communities: Charleston East End, Charleston West Side, Fairmont, Kingwood, Mannington, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Philippi, Point Pleasant, Ripley, Ronceverte and White Sulphur Springs. These communities are learning how to make their revitalization efforts more effective with Main Street services and training customized to meet their local needs with the help of Main Street West Virginia State Coordinator Jennifer Ferrell. West Virginia’s main streets help showcase the best of the state and are a powerful force to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
“Main streets are the heart and soul of West Virginia communities,” says Monica Miller, manager of Local Capacity Development in the West Virginia Development Office. “They are the traditional economic hub of the community, and the Main Street philosophy is to preserve and revitalize these vital areas.”
Since its inception in 1988, Main Street West Virginia has grown in both importance and scale. The program focuses on traditional, historic or commercial districts and uses the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Four Point Approach™, which includes organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring, to reach its goals for the 12 designated communities.
The State of West Virginia has been working with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health to focus on a fifth point: public health. With funding from the Bureau of Public Health and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, Main Street West Virginia is adding health and wellness as a building block for strong communities. This offers exciting possibilities and is especially needed, given West Virginia’s poor health demographics. Living and working in exciting downtown environments goes hand in hand with proper diet and exercise. Farmers markets, jogging and bicycle paths and a strong sense of community all add up to an improved quality of life. This is what main streets are all about.
Kate Greene, the executive director of Main Street Fairmont, believes her community is at a “great tipping point with major growth, new people and a more worldly perspective.” With Pierpont Community & Technical College deciding to locate downtown, a whole new excitement and vibrancy is being created. Fairmont State University is another hub of activity with a renewed focus on revitalizing Locust Avenue. Greene believes it is about “working with the assets you have. It is about the people in the community investing in themselves.”
Greene has established Fairmont at 1230, a group of concerned community members that meets every Thursday to review issues and how best to resolve them. “If you bring up an issue, you also have to propose a solution,” says Greene. “You can’t just gripe about a problem; you have to help with the solution.” Fairmont’s sesquicentennial celebrations were facilitated by the group, whose collaborative efforts made the 150th celebration bigger and more successful with the influx of volunteers and resources. Main Street Fairmont has initiated a variety of other projects including a farmers market on Veterans Square’s parking lot during the weekends. It is all about community engagement and creating an active downtown area.
Stephanie Johnson, executive director of West Side Main Street in Charleston, is proud of the West Side’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social, a part of Charleston’s multi-day FestivALL. United Dairy, West Virginia’s largest dairy and a West Side business, provides 25 gallon tubs of ice cream, and this event—coupled with several music performances, face painting for children and other activities—showcases the best of the West Side. According to Johnson, some people have a negative perception of the West Side, and this event helps combat that perception while allowing people to see the great businesses and opportunities in the neighborhood.
West Side Main Street is also on a mission to find a way to preserve and renovate the old Staats Hospital building. It is a daunting task but one that the organization and other city and business groups are pursuing in earnest. If successful, this adaptive reuse of the historic property could act as the catalyst needed to take the West Side to an entirely new level. Revitalizing the building stock is a major component of West Side Main Street’s goals, which can be accomplished through such tools as façade grants, streetscapes, signage and pursuing grants to stabilize buildings until a developer can be found.
Karen Carper, the project manager and VISTA volunteer for Elkins ON TRAC, is working with her community to obtain certification as a Main Street community in 2014. To become certified, communities must establish funding for the local Main Street administration implementing the program, so Elkins is setting up Friends of ON TRAC to help raise money for the effort. Carper believes the National Main Street program is a powerful economic development tool, and certification is a major community accomplishment. Elkins was recently chosen as a livable community by the American Institute of Architects – West Virginia Chapter. Working with the ON TRAC and Main Street programs has some related benefits. Elkins, where mountains beckon, artists gather and history lives, is a good example.
Carper is extremely pleased to have the Main Street and ON TRAC programs in West Virginia. “The support service provided to small communities is outstanding. Training opportunities such as the recent Main Street West Virginia Conference held in Charleston address the topics that concern our communities in education sessions and provide a platform to discuss problems or concerns in a supportive environment.”
The ON TRAC program is sponsored by the West Virginia Development Office and works in concert with the state’s Main Street program. Nikki Williams, the West Virginia ON TRAC coordinator, oversees 18 participating communities, three of which are on track for Main Street certification in 2014. In addition to Elkins, Wheeling and Parkersburg are fully engaged in the process and shooting for a 2014 Main Street certification.
