For the first time, Wheeling Heritage is a semifinalist for the Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA), which recognizes outstanding Main Street communities. The semifinals name 10 top contenders selected from entries across the nation.
The three winners of 2019’s GAMSA will be announced March 25, 2019, during the Main Street Now conference in Seattle, Washington. The National Main Street Center presents the awards to salute Main Street communities whose successes serve as models for preservation-based commercial district revitalization.
“For more than 20 years, the people of Wheeling and Wheeling Heritage have worked hard to build up their community and they deserve to be recognized for what they’ve achieved,” said Gov. Jim Justice. “Wheeling Heritage and its partners looked at the city’s advantages — its history, natural assets and vibrant culture — and saw the potential for great things. This is a can-do group and can-do people, and they sure got good things done.”
“It’s an honor to receive national recognition for the impact of our work,” said Jake Dougherty, executive director of Wheeling Heritage. “While all of us here in Wheeling see the progress the city has made, it’s always nice to see people outside of the city recognize our progress and potential. Although we were selected for work that has been done in the past four years, this is built off of decades of work by many people.”
Wheeling Heritage was founded in 1994. The city was designated a Main Street community in 2015. Main Street West Virginia, a program under the West Virginia Development Office, focuses on economic revitalization of historic downtown and neighborhood commercial districts.
“We’ve been successful because we are cognizant of the ever-changing nature of our community,” said Alex Weld, project and outreach manager at Wheeling Heritage. “We evaluate and adapt our programming to address pressing needs in the community, which we feel is the best way to help Wheeling continue to flourish. While we’ve taken great strides, our work isn’t done.”
Most recently, Wheeling Heritage saw the need for and brought CO.STARTERS, an international entrepreneur-training program, to Wheeling. Show of Hands, Wheeling Heritage’s community supported crowd funding program, continues to grow, with more than $42,000 given to community projects through the event. Wheeling Heritage also recently expanded its Partnership Grant program, which provides funding to projects that recognize, communicate and preserve Wheeling’s heritage.
“We are honored that Wheeling Heritage has been named a semi-finalist for the National Main Street award,” said Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott. “Downtown redevelopment has been a core component of our overall city revitalization strategy. We and our partners have worked hard to encourage community and economic development in our downtown area with strategic planning, walkability, more welcoming public places, and engaging public art. The results speak for themselves.”
To learn more about Wheeling Heritage, visit wheelingheritage.org.
