Downtown Revitalization Committee: The beautiful lady

For months now, you’ve heard all sorts of information about the importance of revitalizing and re-energizing our Main Street and how we would like to make downtown Presque Isle a destination for visitors to enjoy, just as we do. As you know, the Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee has been working to begin this revitalization process and get things moving in the right direction.
    Now it’s your time to act.
First, let’s use our imaginations again – just for a minute. Let’s pretend that spring is here. I know that’s hard to imagine after the weather of the past few weeks. But let’s close our eyes and picture Main Street on a warm spring day. The snow is gone and there’s a gentle breeze coming out of the south. The sky is a deep blue with one or two cotton ball clouds drifting above us. There is promise in the air and we feel energized and content as we stroll down the street. Life is good.
Then we open our eyes.
What do we see? Do we see store and office windows that are gritty from the long winter, or gleaming windows, fresh from a good polishing? Do we see grimy bricks, or bricks that have just been showered in a good cleaning? Do we see filthy wood fronts, or fresh spring coats of paint? Are the sidewalks cluttered, or are they clean and swept? Hopefully we see the latter choices in all these questions.
It really doesn’t take long to clean and maybe even decorate the facade of your business or building. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. Just think how much nicer your place would look with a little attention from you. And what a great marketing tool this is. You will draw more customers with your attractiveness, and the extra business you get will definitely make up for what you have to spend on this effort. If you own a building that is vacant, cleaning it up, decorating the empty windows, and making it appealing will go a long way to enticing quality tenants. If you own a building that is being rented, perhaps you can discuss the cleanup with the tenant. It can only help their business.
If you don’t own a business or building on Main Street, you can still encourage and support the clean-up effort. Perhaps you know someone who owns or rents a building that could use a bath or fresh outerwear. Please talk to that person and encourage him or her to make the effort. Make your voice known. We all need to work together to get Main Street ready for summer. It’s important that downtown businesses and building owners maintain attractive, clean facades. These facades represent our city and our citizens. We are quality people. Let’s show everyone that quality through a neat, clean Main Street area.
In order to make downtown Presque Isle more welcoming, as well as marketable, she needs to present herself at her best. This quality of appearance will attract visitors, as well as residents. It will make the downtown pleasant and enjoyable, and it may even help attract new businesses, which will, in turn, increase life and energy in our city.
In a few more weeks, the city will embark on its annual spring cleanup project and the Downtown Revitalization Committee will participate in this effort. More information will be forthcoming. But, in the meantime, let’s all work together to make Presque Isle clean and attractive. She is a beautiful lady and deserves to be treated as such.
You can get more information or sign up to join us by calling Sandy Gauvin (764-0876), Cathy Beaulieu at Wilder’s Jewelry Store (764-0309), or Patty LeBlanc (769-7731)