Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409260009
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MARION LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia Main Street Program will expand in early 1995 to include about four more communities, said Tim Pfohl, a program planner. Localities who participate provide almost all of their own money for the program. They get state and national experts' help on architectural design, promotions, marketing and business recruitment.
Pfohl says business leaders in Marion, Wytheville and Tazewell have expressed interest in the program, as well as those in Martinsville, Buchanan, Staunton, Harrisonburg, Chatham and the unincorporated community of Gloucester Courthouse.
Nationwide, 850 communities have joined the National Trust for Historical Preservation's Main Street organization since 1977 in an attempt to bring shoppers back from the suburbs.
That's what business leaders in the Southwest Virginia town of Marion hope will happen if they become part of the program.
``We're not getting as much foot traffic in the downtown area as in the past,'' said Avery Cornett, a jewelry store owner and member of the Marion Downtown Revitalization Association's fund-raising committee. ``Most people today are in the mind-set of going to the malls.''
Tricia Spencer, owner of Framing Unlimited on Marion's Main Street, hopes any new program will enable downtown buildings to be spruced up.
``There's a lot of vacant buildings on Main Street,'' she said. ``A lot of the buildings are just in really bad shape.''
Virginia Main Street communities now are Bedford, Berryville, Bristol, Clifton Forge, Culpeper, Elkton, Emporia, Franklin, Galax, Lexington, Manassas, Orange, Petersburg, Pulaski, Radford, Suffolk, Warrenton and Winchester.
After a community is involved in the program for three years, that's generally the end of the state's intensive assistance, Pfohl said. ``But we have found some money periodically to extend design assistance into a fourth year,'' he said.
Each community draws on its own unique attractions to encourage visitors, Main Street officials said. Focusing on the area's country music heritage is a marketing tool for Susie Gordon, executive director of Main Street Bristol.
Gordon said more than 65 new businesses and expansions have popped up since a project to revitalize the State Street corridor was launched on the Tennessee side of Bristol in 1989.
Working with an $89,000 annual budget, technical assistance was expanded in 1992 when Bristol joined Virginia's program.
Pulaski's 6-year-old program - using about $60,000 annually - has revitalized the downtown corridor, especially during the past 18 months, said Town Manager Tom Combiths.
On the eastern edge of Grayson County, Galax's 5-year-old Main Street program continues through the Galax Downtown Association. A part-time director is funded, in part, through a special downtown tax district, similar to one recently created in Marion.
``It's really our money going back to us to benefit our program,'' said Lynda Cock, an association member and co-owner of the Men's Shop on Galax's Main Street. ``A downtown, these days, definitely needs someone to guide it.''
by CNB