Main Street Beatrice

This holiday season, downtown Beatrice was a Winter Wonderland.

Main Street businesses offered over 40 different classes to residents during the Winter Wonderland Weekend in downtown Beatrice. There was everything from how to make toffee to how to audition for a play workshop. Anything and everything you needed to know to help make your holiday a little brighter.

Main Street Matters

In the summer of 1996, a group of local citizens concerned about the future of the downtown area joined forces to bring the country's most successful community vitalization program to Beatrice. Representatives of the group visited the 184 downtown businesses to introduce the program. A detailed survey of the 169 buildings in the 16 block area was completed, and a 79-page application was completed for inclusion in the Nebraska Lied Main Street state program. After being chosen as finalist, community representatives made a formal presentation before the panel of judges. The presentation was organized around an audio-visual Walking Tour of downtown Beatrice. In October 1996, Beatrice was selected as one of only 4 communities accepted into the Nebraska Lied Main Street Program for the 1997 year.

In addition to inclusion with the Nebraska Lied Main Street Program, Main Street Beatrice has been accredited as a Certified National Main Street Program, a branch of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which was developed to stimulate downtown economic development within the context of historic preservation.

The strength of the Main Street Program is its Four Point Approach: Organization, Economic Restructuring, Promotion, and Design. Each of these areas is represented by a committee of community volunteers whose combined activities create success for downtown Beatrice. The goal of Main Street Beatrice is to promote a positive image of downtown by preserving our unique historic character, strengthening our district's economic base, and emphasizing downtown as the center of community activity.

Main Street Beatrice is a 501 (c)(3) organization that operates through an Executive Director and the guidance of a 15 member Board of Directors who set policies and procedures for the overall program operation. The Board and the Director welcome the opportunity to explain Main Street Beatrice's initiatives and goals.

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