Ronan revitalization works toward future projects
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
RONAN — The Ronan Revitalization Committee met on Tuesday, March 22, to learn more about the Montana Main Street program (MMS).
According to guest presenters Taylor Crowl and Mackenzie Espeland from the program, Ronan was the only town to be accepted this year thanks to the efforts already made by the community toward downtown improvement. Now the program will meet Ronan where it’s at to help move forward with both funding assistance and improvement ideas.
The Main Street program focuses on four main points: economic vitality, design, promotion, and organization. One main goal of the committee is to find projects that tie in all four elements.
Several examples of projects in other locations were given during the presentation that could potentially be implemented in Ronan. Helena has Alive at 5, a live music event held at different downtown locations every Wednesday evening in the summer, that can be used as a good fundraising and volunteer engagement event for the community. A Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, such as exists in Polson, was also given as an example to help reinvest in façade improvements, as well as create a more vibrant, welcoming, and visually interesting downtown environment to draw more people in.
The next planned steps for the committee will be to do a downtown walkthrough along with MMS staff to explore potential and promising directions for the town, as well as put together a presentation workshop in early summer to explore ideas. The revitalization committee will also work on devising a workplan for the next year to begin putting projects in motion.
There will also be a Montana Downtown Conference in Billings on April 6-8 where Main Street communities will gather and share what is being done across the state to improve local communities.
Based on the inspiration given during the meeting, the committee will be brainstorming potential projects to improve downtown Ronan with costs of around $10,000 that they would like to tackle first.
The revitalization committee, a subcommittee of the Ronan Area Chamber of Commerce, is actively seeking out two additional board members to help with future projects. To learn how to become a participant, call 406-676-8300, or visit ronanchamber.com.
