Dept. of Commerce: Wisconsin Main Street Program offers application workshops

Contact: Tony Hozeny, Department of Commerce, 608/267-9661

MADISON- Communities interested in applying to the Wisconsin Main Street Downtown Revitalization Program must attend one of three application workshops offered by the Department of Commerce (Commerce) in September and October 2010. The Wisconsin Main Street Program provides technical assistance to Historic commercial districts.

“Each year, the Department of Commerce considers communities for selection in the Main Street program,” said Commerce Secretary Aaron Olver. “These workshops will give participants the assistance they need in applying for this program.”

The Main Street staff is pleased to announce that the workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day at the following locations. (Lunch will be on your own.)

September 29, 2010 – America’s Best Value Inn – Campus View in Eau Claire

September 30, 2010 – Settle Inn and Suites in Shawano

October 1, 2010 – Carp’s Landing Restaurant in Lake Mills

The deadline to register is September 20, 2010 and can be done by mailing the form on the brochure or submitting it online at http://doa.wi.gov/WEBSurveys/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=llKK7l81

The Wisconsin Main Street Program will take up to two communities in 2011 and attending one of the Application Workshops is the first step in that process. Communities interested in applying must send at least one representative to the any of the locations.

“The new communities selected through this process will be part of a successful tradition of grassroots downtown revitalization that has created some impressive results, such as generating more than $1.1 billion in public and private reinvestment and creating thousands of new jobs since the inception of Wisconsin Main Street,” said Secretary Olver.

Wisconsin Main Street is an economic development program targeting Wisconsin’s historic commercial districts. Staff members provide technical support and training to Wisconsin communities that have expressed a grass roots commitment to revitalizing their traditional business districts using a comprehensive strategy based on historic preservation and developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Wisconsin’s 36 Main Street Communities range in size from Tigerton, population 750, to neighborhoods in Green Bay and Milwaukee.

Current Main Street communities include Algoma, Beloit, Chippewa Falls, Columbus, Darlington, De Pere, Eagle River, Fond du Lac, On Broadway (Green Bay), Lake Mills, Lincoln Village (Milwaukee), Manitowoc, Marshfield, Monroe, Osceola, Pewaukee, Platteville, Portage, Port Washington, Prairie du Chien, Rhinelander, Rice Lake, Ripon, Sharon, Sheboygan Falls, Stevens Point, Sturgeon Bay, Tigerton, Tomahawk, Two Rivers, Viroqua, Watertown, Wausau, West Allis, West Bend and Whitewater.

For more information about the Wisconsin Main Street Program, go to http://commerce.wi.gov/CD/CD-bdd-overview.html or contact Jim Engle, Coordinator of the Wisconsin Main Street program, at 608-267-0766 or james.engle@wisconsin.gov