If you want to go shopping, enjoy good food, or take in a movie or a play, where do you go? Preservationists and local entrepreneurs hope you’ll think of your town’s Main Street. Since 1979 the Kentucky Main Street Program has been helping to revitalize downtowns both large and small.
“We focus on downtown commercial districts to create a sense of place and to create a viable downtown in the community,” said Kitty Dougoud, state Main Street Program coordinator.
How is it done? The Kentucky Main Street Program brings together members of each community to partner with the Kentucky Heritage Council. The idea is to boost the downtown economy within the context of historic preservation.
In Paducah, the Main Street Program provides the energy for downtown, said Melinda Winchester, Main Street director for the town. The program offers financial incentives for businesses to make improvements to their buildings.
Historic buildings are rehabilitated for new purposes. Among the latest projects are the Tribeca Inn, a boutique hotel with an event center behind it; Paducah Beer Works, a craft brewery in the old bus station; and Paducah Distilled Spirits, “which is like walking back into a moonshine museum,” Winchester said.
“Main Street offers a whole new identity to people looking to come to town, and that helps market these properties and these businesses that we have,” Winchester said.
The Heritage Council provides some grant money and other assistance for the local Main Stret programs, but individual communities are expected to make a financial commitment. A local Main Street director runs the program through a volunteer board.
“Each year our Main Street board comes up with a project that they pitch to our local officials for funding,” said Maysville’s Matt Wallingford. Most recently, Maysville focused on sprucing up facades along Main Street.
Mayor David Cartmell finds the program invaluable for the downtown economy, keeping local money in town, “about 70 cents on the dollar,” he estimates.
“It’s made other people recognize what we have,” he said, noting the restaurants, stores, a new park, and businesses such as a computer software company.
In Covington, Katie Meyer, manager of Renaissance Covington, looks at creating public spaces that are inviting. “One example is an old parking lot that we painted and put lighting on and built a stage with electricity to create an outdoor performance space,” she said. The space will be home to music performances as well as a farmers’ market.
Covington also has more residential options. “We’ve seen an influx of people coming to live downtown,” Meyer said.
Meyer grew up in Covington and is pleased with the changes in the town. “It’s all about hope and aspiration,” she said, “the opportunity to be the next doctor at bioLOGIC to try to find a cure for cancer, or the next tech company that comes out of our technology incubator UpTech. There’s just more opportunity and hope for Covington based on what we’re seeing downtown.”
