Proponents of reviving downtown North Battleford will no doubt be interested in the announcement from the province about its Main Street Saskatchewan program.
In a news release Tuesday, the provincial government announced Main Street Saskatchewan would be established as an on-going program.
The program works with communities to provide benefits and services to support historic downtowns and commercial districts. It has been in place as a pilot program in four communities for the last few years.
The new ongoing Main Street program will allow for two levels of participation.
One is for "accredited communities," who will be eligible to receive "all benefits and services offered by the Main Street program," according to the province's news release.
Those include "training and advisory services, support in developing their streetscape design guidelines, eligibility for three matching grant streams and a one-time, $25,000 matching grant to assist the community in developing their long-term vision and work plan for the downtown." Two new "accredited communities" will be selected following a Sept. 5 deadline for applications.
The second heading is the "affiliate" level. Those communities will "receive a package of benefits which includes eligibility for the capacity building grant and some training and advisory services".
An unlimited number of affiliate communities are to be selected under this heading.
There is early interest from North Battleford in making an application.
Downtown North Battleford Executive Director Lisa McEachern says her organization "definitely will be applying for this program, probably in partnership, obviously, with the City of North Battleford."
She sees many potential benefits for North Battleford.
"This program would tie in perfectly with the whole downtown master plan concept that the City is coming up with," said McEachern.
In particular she says she believes it can help the design of a concept for reviving the historic buildings in the core.
Main Street Saskatchewan has been in place as a demonstration program since 2011.
The communities of Indian Head, Maple Creek, Prince Albert and Wolseley were the first selected under the program. North Battleford applied, but was not among the initial communities selected.
"It looks like there's a little bit more opportunity now," said McEachern, noting the province would be designating an "unlimited" number of affiliated communities.
"So I think that we welcome the opportunity to participate in the program to some degree."
The province cites the positive results from the first four communities as the reason the program is now an ongoing one.
According to the province, $1.65 million was invested in the four communities initially selected, with 66 new jobs created, 22 new businesses opened, $4.9 million committed to historic building and streetscape improvements and $6.5 million in property acquisitions.
"Our historic downtowns and commercial districts are centres of pride in our province," Minister of Parks, Culture and Sport Mark Docherty said in a news release.
"Through its new, on-going program, Main Street Saskatchewan will work with communities to promote, conserve and capitalize on the things that make these areas unique. By helping create jobs, businesses, and areas for cultural experience, this new program will improve our quality of life and contribute to the remarkable growth we're experiencing across the province."
