The Public Art Committee of Marietta Main Street designed and installed a hand-painted mural series with 14 area artists on downtown buildings.
Marietta Main Street has been designated as an accredited Main Street™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards. Each year, Main Street America and its partners announce the list of accredited programs to recognize their exceptional commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach.
“We are proud to recognize this year’s 889 nationally accredited Main Street programs that have worked tirelessly to advance economic vitality and quality of life in their downtowns and commercial districts,” said Patrice Frey, President & CEO of Main Street America. “During an incredibly challenging year, these programs demonstrated the power of the Main Street movement to drive impressive local recovery efforts, champion small businesses, and foster vibrant downtown districts. I am inspired by their hard work and confident that these accredited communities will continue to help their downtowns flourish in the next stages of recovery.”
Main Street volunteers with Main Street Executive Director Cristie Thomas distribute balloons to downtown businesses for a Fall Shop Hop event.
In 2020, Main Street America programs generated $4.14 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 4,356 net new businesses, generated 14,988 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 8,488 historic buildings, and clocked 983,702 volunteer hours.
Marietta Main Street’s performance is annually evaluated by Heritage Ohio, which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify the local programs that meet 10 national performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building meaningful and sustainable revitalization programs and include standards such as, fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.
Main Street Volunteer alongside Mayor Josh Schlicher visit downtown business owners to show support for local, small business during the holiday season.
In 2020, Marietta Main Street launched new programs and initiatives to strengthen downtown Marietta in the face of COVID-19 and helped secure funds and resources to support businesses within the commercial district. Specifically, Marietta Main Street allocated $21,000 in funds for building improvement projects to downtown property owners, awarded over $18,000 in small business relief to downtown business owners, launched the Bike Marietta program thanks to a $10,000 award from the Washington County Health Department, invested $8,200 in public art through mural installations, leveraged a generation of over $40,000 in revenue for small businesses via their Virtual Cash Mob event series, and much, much more.
“National accreditation is no small feat and I am proud of all we’ve accomplished in 2020 that allowed us to maintain our status as an official Main Street Community, “ said Marietta Main Street Executive Director Cristie Thomas.
“To be listed amongst the ranks of 888 other Main Street organizations, each doing incredible work unique to their towns yet all in accordance with the Main Street Approach, is an honor we do not take lightly. Our Board of Directors is a strong team of locals passionate about Marietta and works with endless dedication to ensure our organization meets the standards every year to maintain national accreditation,” said Thomas.
To learn more about Marietta Main Street’s impact in 2020, view their 2020 Annual Report at this link.
Members of the Marietta Main Street Board of Directors receive the Linsley Community Partner Award from Marietta College
ABOUT MAIN STREET AMERICA
Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for 40 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development Since 1980, communities participating in the program have leveraged more than $89.57 billion in new public and private investment, generated 687,321 net new jobs and 154,435 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 303,836 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit www.mainstreet.org.
