CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou has joined the Maine Downtown Center Program, which helps communities revitalize their downtown and works with them by offering access to a network of peers across Maine, and training from national downtown development experts.
The program is part of the Maine Development Foundation, an organization dedicated to spurring economic growth within the state.
Christina Kane-Gibson, Caribou’s marketing and events coordinator, said this will open the city up to a “variety of grant opportunities and extra points on future CDBG grants,” in addition to the resources and training opportunities.
She said the program “is all about transformation,” revitalizing the local economy, and joining a “strong network of communities who are all working towards the same goals.”
The city recently formed the Caribou Downtown Team, which aims to “responsibly grow downtown Caribou as a thriving economic and cultural cornerstone,” according to Kane-Gibson.
The group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center on Bennett Drive, and Kane-Gibson said all residents and business owners are welcome to join or just come and share their ideas.
Currently, the team is working to determine which projects they’ll tackle first, and will be assigned an MDC mentor who will help them identify a variety of short- and long-term goals. The team also plans to hold fundraising events throughout the year.
Kane-Gibson said short-term goals include facade improvements, public art and holiday lights, while the long-term goals will be determined via a survey of town residents which the group plans to send out within the next week.
“One of our goals will be creating an easily accessible packet of information with the ‘ingredients’ for successful projects: available real estate and rental space, demographics information, market analysis, funding options, TIF districts, and zoning information,” she said, “The process to start and operate a business in Caribou will be clear and laid out like a road map.”
The Caribou Downtown Team also precisely defined the downtown boundaries. According to Kane-Gibson, it stretches from its northernmost point at Herschel Street south to the Nylander Museum, then from the easternmost point at the riverfront west to Burger Boy.
While this area spans beyond what most municipalities would normally consider “downtown,” Kane-Gibson said the group did not want to limit themselves to just the immediate downtown area.
Though the team is still in its early phases, Kane-Gibson said the collaboration of numerous business owners has been immensely helpful in their efforts, and that they still want input and collaboration from any interested residents and entrepreneurs.
“Deb Sutherland of Brambleberry Market has been key,” said Kane-Gibson. “Susan Maley from Aroostook Stitches and Jordyn Rossignol of Ms. Jordyn’s preschool also gave us some important feedback. Sitel allowed us to use their conference room as a meeting point during our site visit.”
Overall, Kane-Gibson said she is excited to see what this new collaboration will be able to do for the city.
“For us,” she said, “it’s all about relationships and collaborations. We love Caribou and we want to see it prosper long into the future.”
