Ferriday needs to hurry on Main Street application

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Thursday, August 7, 2008

FERRIDAY — If Ferriday is going to apply to become a part of the Louisiana Main Street Program, they have until Aug. 29 to complete their application.

That is what the state director for the Louisiana Main Street Program, Ray Scriber, said at Wednesday’s meeting of the Ferriday Downtown Revitalization Foundation.

Individuals have worked on the application in the past, but it is going to take a group effort for the application to be correctly completed on time, Ferriday Historic District member Carol Tomko said.

At the end of the meeting, a number of people from the foundation and concerned citizens stuck around to volunteer their time to help complete the application process.

“It is going to take a hit squad of people to cram this in,” the Rev. Louis Sklar said.

Having a number of people work on the application will increase its likelihood of being approved, Scriber said.

“If your application comes from a broad group, the better chance you have of it being accepted,” he said.

The Main Street Program is a grant program that aims to preserve historic properties and encourage economic development to continue that preservation.

There are currently 26 Main Street communities in Louisiana. Four neighborhood areas in New Orleans are also included in the program.

Main Street communities have a main street foundation that can either exist as a non-profit or be operated by the local government, Scriber said.

That foundation has a director, a position Scriber described as similar to a mall director, but for the downtown area.

But the important thing to remember about the main street program is that it is volunteer-driven, Scriber said.

Volunteers can do things the town cannot, Scriber said.

“Say the town was able to buy some benches, but the city crew did not have the time to put those benches together, that is something the volunteers would do,” he said.

Another thing the town’s Main Street foundation would do would be to promote the businesses in the designated Main Street area, through either image promotion, or retail promotion.

“An example of that would be all of the merchants going together and having a sidewalk sale,” Scriber said. “It draws people downtown because they know things will be there to see, and a lot of times they will actually go into the store and buy items not on sale.”

The program’s preservation aspect allows the different communities access to exterior and interior designers who can help them renovate and redesign historic properties free of charge.

Through all of this, however, it is important for the Main Street group to work with existing businesses, Scriber said.

“They have been there through the thick and the thin, and have probably made a decision to stay,” he said.

The Ferriday Historic District has completed the steps for Ferriday to become a certified local government, a prerequisite a town must meet before they can become a Main Street community.

To do so, a community must pass a historic preservation ordinance.

The National Park Service has approved the certified local government application, and Ferriday is awaiting final official confirmation, Tomko said.