LOCK HAVEN - Congratulations are due to downtown Lock Haven.
The Main Street Program here was recently accredited by the state and by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Dawn Snyder, new Main Street manager and manager of Downtown Lock Haven Inc., accepted the prestigious honor Tuesday at a Main Street managers meeting - her first held in West Chester.
"It is not an easy task to make that certification," she said, giving the credit to former Main Street Manager Maria Boileau, staff member Carol Colucci, the City of Lock Haven, the Downtown Lock Haven Inc. Board of Directors and, as she put it, "countless volunteers" who help promote the city's commercial district.
The certification means Downtown Lock Haven Inc. may proudly state it has an official "National Main Street Program" for 2012.
The city's Main Street Program, and similar programs in several other municipalities, earned the distinction for their outstanding organizational performance in sustaining a Main Street effort.
The honors were presented by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center which reviews all the Main Street programs and nominates those that meet the criteria for the accreditation. The award is then given by the center and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Main Street Program is based on a national movement. In this state, the Pennsylvania Downtown Center can help interested, eligible municipalities create a "Keystone Main Street Program."
Downtown Lock Haven Inc. successfully used funding from the state Department of Community and Economic Development for the first five years it ran the program. Now that the program is established, the board and the Main Street manager continue to seek other funding sources for the many things it does and the benefits it provides to the commercial district.
To attain the "National Main Street Program" status, the local program had to meet performance standards. These included using the Main Street Four-Point Approach - organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring. It also had to apply the eight Main Street principles which emphasize a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to change for the better.
The Lock Haven Main Street Program has achieved this distinction before, Snyder said, and she pledged it will strive to achieve it in each of the years to come.
