1. Ashland Main Street Association 2015 – Fall Town Council Briefing

2.  Main Street Program Overview  Recent Accomplishments  Ashland Theater update  Other Main Street Projects  Ideas  Q&A 2

3.  Developed by National Trust for Historic Preservation to find ways to find new uses for old buildings in downtown’s  Primary goal is to drive economic activity in historic downtown business districts  Virginia Main Street Program created in 1985  Ashland earned a “Virginia Main Street Designation” in June 2013 – one of only 25 in the state

5. 27 - Main Street Communities  Ashland  Altavista  Bedford  Blackstone  Farmville  Franklin  Hopewell  Lynchburg  Orange  Danville  Martinsville  South Boston  Culpeper  Manassas  Warrenton  Berryville  Lexington  Harrisonburg  Luray  Staunton  Waynesboro  Winchester  Abingdon  Marion  Radford  Rocky Mount  St. Paul

16. Nationwide

17.  Create a thriving downtown Ashland thru Economic Development.  Develop a strong, positive brand for Ashland  Identify ways to strengthen relations between RMC and the business community  Promote our Arts & Culture district in Ashland to encourage more tourism  Serve as a resource for businesses  Drive foot traffic to town  Remove obstacles

18. Challenges  Blighted buildings  Communication  Limited resources and time  England Street  95, Outlet Mall, exit 89  Signage  Clutter

21. 21

23. www.mainstreetashland.org

24. AFTER

28.  Grooming place  Wave’s and B. Whimsy move to bigger places, stay in downtown.  Flux Annex  Behind the Curtain  Sunday Historical Treasures  England Street Tavern  Vaughan Architects  Dominion Environmental Assoc., LLC  Dominion Resources Innovation Center  Custom Builders Express  Caboose Expansion  RMC technology center  Sweet Frog - soon

29. 10,000 people have come to theater Revenues of 50,000 dollars All volunteer Staff 65 events of all sorts Lights are on Invaluable data for next phase of operations collected 2165 likes on Facebook.com 5 Start ratings Dramatic impact on community Bringing new people to town Getting regional recognition Creating foot traffic Variety of programming for all tastes

35.  “Drive Tourism” initiative – 5-year tourism strategy and $10,000 Marketing Grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation  Promote “Richmond2015 World Cycling Championships” in September  Organize the 13 th annual Ashland Train Day on November 7, 2015  Develop public art guidelines and continue downtown beautification efforts through “Adopt-A-Spot.”  Recognize cosmetic and structural improvements in the Downtown District with our “You’ve Been Noticed” program  Business Briefings Summer/Winter  Bike Art project – 65 Businesses  Promotions of Ashland COTU  Light up the Tracks (Pending)

37.  Business liaison program – Partnered each BOD member with 6-9 businesses  Email and contacts for all down town businesses  Creating an empty building inventory  Top 5 Project list in conjunction with Garret at TOA  Business data base mapping

39. Asks of the Future..  Pedestrian cross walks  Parallel Parking on England Street  Street Legal golf carts in city center  Full Time Executive Director  Brown sign North and South 95

40.  Friend – $50.00  Business Partner - $200.00  Patron – $500.00  Diamond Sponsor – $1000.00