UTAH MAIN STREET
Utah Main Street is a network of passionate community members engaged in historic commercial district revitalization. We bring people together to strengthen local economies, preserve the heart of our communities, and celebrate our unique places.
"There's no other program that I'm aware of that can come close to the Main Street America Four Point approach to creating a vibrant downtown. We highly recommend it to any community looking to revitalize their downtowns."
- Paul Larsen, Economic Development Director, Brigham City
MAIN STREET AMERICA
Utah Main Street is a Coordinating Program of Main Street America. Main Street America™ has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. Today it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
UTAH MAIN STREET BACKGROUND
Utah Main Street initially ran from 1996-2006 and then was piloted from 2019-2021 with Brigham City and Price. During the 2021 Legislative session, S.B 94 created Utah Main Street within the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (now known as Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity). In July of 2022, Utah Main Street moved to the Department of Cultural and Community Engagement.
UTAH PROGRAM NETWORK
As of 2024, 16 Utah Main Street communities achieved Affiliate designation with Utah Main Street and Main Street America.
UTAH MAIN STREET & MAIN STREET AMERICA'S FOUR-POINT APPROACH
UMS seeks to build a strategy centered around a community’s unique heritage and attributes, focusing on what’s special to make it a great place to live and visit. The program provides a framework and resources to support a Utah Main Street community's downtown revitalization efforts and requires the community to commit to the time-tested Main Street America Four-Point Approach® downtown revitalization developed by Main Street America™ which includes organization, promotion, design, and economic vitality.
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Organization
Promotion
Design
Economic Vitality
This Approach is a unique preservation-based economic development tool that enables communities to enhance downtown and neighborhood business districts by leveraging local assets. It is a comprehensive, incremental strategy that addresses the variety of issues and problems that challenge traditional commercial districts. Utah Main Street helps businesses, residents, governments and visitors thrive by connecting them to this customizable framework to focus local efforts, energy, and resources to create a more vibrant downtown. This transformation strategy articulates a focused, deliberate path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown or commercial district’s economy.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Utah Main Street offers tools, resources and funding opportunities to Utah communities accepted in the program. To learn more about funding opportunities that enhance the Utah Main Street Program, visit the new State of Utah Funding Opportunities Portal to explore state and federal resources available.
Utah Main Street has also developed a Grant Opportunities Dashboard where local communities can learn more about upcoming funding opportunities. View all active grant opportunities on this page. View both active and inactive grant opportunities at this page.
UMS NETWORK RESOURCES
UTAH MAIN STREET CALENDAR
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We are excited to announce that on August 1st, applications for Utah Main Street will be opening! Interested communities may apply to Tier 1 of the program from August 1st through August 31st. To learn more about Utah Main Street, please check out the rest of the website.
The application form will be available here on August 1st, so stay tuned. To begin the application process, review the Tier 1 Promising Communities Application Checklist and begin compiling the information you will need to complete the application. You may also review the Tier 1 Promising Communities Roadmap under the UMS Network Resources section of the webpage to familiarize yourself with the Tier 1 Promising Communities Journey.
The Tier 2 Affiliate Communities Roadmap and Tier 3 Accredited Communities Roadmap documents are coming soon.
HAVE A utah main street program QUESTION? WE CAN ANSWER THAT.
Chelsea Gauthier
Utah Main Street Program Coordinator
(801) 535-2501
Faith Bitz
Utah Main Street Community and Events Specialist
Karlee Stauffer
Grants Administrator
(801) 535-2503