OPRD release – SALEM — Oregon Main Street announced its 2021 “Excellence on Main” award winners via videos during the annual Main Street (virtual) conference. Created in 2010, the annual Excellence on Main awards honor outstanding accomplishments, activities, and people making a difference in historic downtowns and traditional commercial neighborhoods across the state. The fifteen partners, projects, activities, and businesses honored are: Outstanding New Building: First Federal Headquarters, McMinnville; Creative Placemaking: McMinnville Dine Out(Side), McMinnville; Outstanding Civic Project: Corvallis Museum, Corvallis; Outstanding Adaptive Reuse: 999 N. Front Street, Coos Bay; Outstanding Downtown Housing Project: Merwyn Apartments, Astoria; Outstanding Mixed Use Project: Gray-Belle Building, Salem; Business Heroes: Lionheart Coffee, Beaverton, & Homegrown Oregon Foods, Albany; Outstanding Public-Private Partnership: City of Independence & Independence Downtown Association, and City of Beaverton and Beaverton Downtown Association; Executive Director of the Year: Darin Rutledge, Klamath Falls Downtown Association; Outstanding Partnership: Gold Beach Small Town Christmas, Gold Beach; Outstanding Promotion: Baker City Gingerbread House Tour, Baker City; Outstanding Special Project: Building Our New Landscape, Tigard, and Literary Pollinator Garden, Hillsboro. In addition, six individuals were acknowledged with a Volunteers on Main award for their above and beyond contributions to their communities. These individuals are:
Tim O’Dwyer, Gold Beach Main Street; Patsy Oser, Astoria Downtown Historic District Association; Tom Novak, Baker City Downtown; Kipperlyn Sinclair, Hillsboro Downtown Partnership; Kate Schwarzler, Independence Downtown Association; Matt Wadlington, Albany Downtown Association. “2020 was a particularly challenging year on Main Street,” said Sheri Stuart, state coordinator, Oregon Main Street. “Our main street communities demonstrated amazing resiliency, working tirelessly to support, encourage, and nurture the people, businesses, and property owners in their communities. These awards recognize the outstanding efforts of local programs in creating and supporting projects and activities that exemplify Oregon Main Street’s mission to build equitable, livable, and sustainable communities that will grow Oregon’s economy while maintaining a sense of place.” The wide range of awards is reflective of the comprehensive Main Street Approach™ to downtown revitalization developed by the National Main Street Center. This model is used by the communities participating in the three-tier Main Street Track of Oregon Main Street Network. From 2010 to 2020, communities participating in the Performing Main Street and Transforming Downtown levels – the top two tiers – have seen $125 million in private building improvement projects, $124.6 million in public projects, 1,347 private rehab projects, 639 net new businesses, 163 business expansions, 126 business acquisitions, and 3,961 net new jobs. In addition, 250,348 hours of volunteer time has been contributed to local main street organizations in the top tiers. Oregon Main Street is part of Oregon Heritage, a division of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. For additional information, visit www.oregonmainstreet.org.
