GRANTS, NM – Grants MainStreet Project Inc. held an open house as their annual meeting on June 30, at Mission Gallery. The open house included door prizes, refreshments, and a presentation by Executive Director William Yarborough to provide updates regarding the organization.
Grants MainStreet Project Inc. was established in 1997 and is a 501(c)3, charitable, nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving Grants downtown area. According to MainStreet, “Grants Main-Street is the catalyst for revitalizing, beautifying, and energizing downtown Grants through education, promotion, and assistance.
Yarborough began his presentation stating, “Tonight’s event is free to educate you about what we do, to inform you about opportunities to get involved with our work, and to celebrate the good work that we have done over this past year.” Following this statement Yarborough went forward with introducing the members of the MainStreet Board of Directors: President Patrick Clingman, Vice President Roger Siegmann, Secretary Kenneth Brown, Board Member JoAnne Martinez, Board Member Michelle Thomas, and after Josephine Hurtado the former Treasurer and Board Member, Alene Joyner was added as a new Board Member. Yarborough stated, “At the end of the day it’s the Board of Directors that further the work that we do.”
After the introductions, Yarborough continued with speaking about the four points that MainStreet follows which are, economic vitality, design, organization, and promotion. Each of these points also has its own committees and committee chairs. The Economic Vitality Committee Chair is Eileen Chavez-Yarborough; the Design Committee Chair is Christy Lochrie, the Organization Committee Chair is Michelle Thomas, and currently the promotion committee chair is vacant. Yarborough said, “Our committees is where we do the planning and implement the actual work.”
There are currently three openings in the Board of Directors, there are also openings for individuals to join the committees. All openings are volunteer based. Yarborough stated, “If you’re looking for an opportunity to get more involved is on the board of directors, but also in the committees.”
Following this Yarborough spoke about the changes made since June 2022. In 2021-2022, Grants MainStreet had a part-time director, was an NMMS affiliate, had five board members, there was no city support, and there were no committee MTG’s. In 20222023, Grants MainStreet had a full-time director, was an NMMS affiliate, had six board members, there was minor city support, and all four committees meet regularly. Yarborough stated, “We are here as an organization to try and raise our volunteers, to raise our funding capacity, and the partnerships we create… Those are the things that turn the wheel of this machine.”
MainStreet had many programs the MainStreet district in 2022-2023, they highlighted five of these programs during the open house. The first program was MainStreet Murals, which was where Main-Street coordinated and supported the installation of two new murals to help draw attention to a new business in the district. The next program was Fire & Ice Stage maintenance, where Main-Street took a small team of volunteers and repainted the Fire & Ice Stage and Pavilions.
The third program was Hospitable Grants, which trains employed and unemployed individuals’ skills and knowledge related to customer service and hospitality and provided a $3,000 grant to small businesses that hired or sends their employee to train at the program. The fourth program was Friends of MainStreet, which is where “friends” of MainStreet donate $50 and in return, receive a window decal and quarterly newsletter/ e-letter. The final program highlighted was Promotional Events, the Holiday Light Parade, Shop Small Saturday, Veterans Day, and Spokes on 66.
During the open house, the future of MainStreet was also talked about, Yarborough stated, “We wanted to kind of get into what our plans are for the future, at least indicate that we will have events for the future.” There are two Economic Transformation Strategies that were highlighted, which include trying to attract more visitors to the area, and to entice more residents to reinvest in the local economy.
ETS one is to attract destination visitors to the area and downtown district, according to Mainstreet, “This strategy focuses on the Route 66, I-40, and Outdoor Recreation demographics to inform about, entice to, and engage into our economy.” The activities for this strategy include recruiting businesses to downtown, developing a kiosk for tourists, and installing at least one outdoor themed and heritage mural per year.
ETS two is to ignite residents to reinvest in the local economy, according to MainStreet, “This strategy focuses on demographics inside the City and County to inform about, entice to, and engage into our economy.” The activities for this strategy include working on mixed-use zoning and updating the zoning map, developing a “cash back” program, and implementing a MainStreet Lighting Initiative to increase nightlife.
Grants MainStreet was awarded a $120,000 Great Blocks Grant from the State of New Mexico to “engage the community in planning and design activities to create a “shovel-ready” plan to revitalize the three-block area from 5th St. to Copper Ave.” According to Main-Street, “The hope is to implement a design that creates a pedestrian friendly corridor.” Yarborough spoke about this Grant and their plans going forward, “Things that happen [from 5th St. to Copper Ave.] are up to the community, like yourselves. You will likely be called upon again here soon, to come out to community meetings, engage with ourselves and the city to understand what you would like to see in this change.”
Awards were given to some members of Main-Street including Outstanding Service to Josephine Hurstado, MainStreet MVP to Harry Garcia, and Volunteer of the year to Evelyn Siegmann. Following the presentation, door prizes were announced. The door prizes included Fire & Ice Bike Rally posters, a painting, ball caps, and a Lego set.
As a summary Main-Street stated, “The Main-Street district has a bright future… We are better than we were last year, we’ve done some amazing things through this year, and we’ve made a plan to pave the road ahead.” For closing remarks, the MainStreet Project is looking for more volunteers. Individuals can help them by: Becoming a GMS Board Member, Becoming a GMS four-point Committee Member, and becoming a “Friend of MainStreet.”