Franklin's Main Street Program aims to make
downtown viable and fun, and is critical to the future
of downtown revitalization efforts. Our Main Street
program has the vision of building on downtown's
inherent assets—rich architecture, personal service,
traditional values, and most of all, its great sense of
place. Our annual Harvest Moon Festival, and Black Bear
and Birding Festival helps to accentuate these core
values and highlight the best of Franklin, LA. The next
mission is to create public enthusiasm for the
restoration of our historic Center Theater (circa 1930)
and retain some semblance of architectural authenticity.
In this way, we are connecting land use to a civic
mission in order to catalyze public investment in
infrastructure among a range of stakeholders.
"The Main Street program is designed to improve
all aspects of the business district, producing both
tangible and intangible benefits. Improving economic
management, strengthening public participation, and
making downtown a fun place are as critical to Main
Street's future as recruiting new businesses, restoring
buildings, and expanding parking. The idea is to build
on downtown's inherent assets. To accomplish this goal
the program relies on the 4 pt. approach: Organization,
Promotion, Design, and Economic Restructuring."
The Four Point Approach:
Organization means getting everyone involved
in working towards the same goal. Main St. is a
volunteer driven, self-help program for community
revitalization. The board and regular working committees
will assist greatly in building unity and securing a
broader base of public involvement than a solely manager
driven program. This committee is key to fundraising.
Promotion is involved with selling the image
of the town by promoting the district's unique
characteristics to shoppers, investors, new businesses
and visitors. This is done effectively through
advertising, retail promotions, special events, and
marketing campaigns carried out by volunteers. Ideally
partnering with the Tourist Commission and Chamber for
assistance is good for this committee.
Design works to get the Main St. in top
physical shape and capitalizes on visual assets such as
historic buildings, window displays, signs, sidewalks,
and landscape. It creates a good visual image to pair
with the promotional campaigns. Pole and stage banners
and logos create consistent branding for events. The
Historic District is a good partner.
Economic Restructuring helps to find new uses
for the existing spaces within the historic district.
They help existing businesses expand and recruit new
ones that will be a viable commercial success within the
area.
Each committee has its own focus, but must work in
tandem with other committees to accomplish overall goals
of the Main St. program.
If you are interested in serving on one of these
committees, please contact the Office of Community
Development at City Hall.
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