ABOVE: A stretch of downtown, Fairmont. Several groups are working on enhancing the downtown experience for the whole community.

FAIRMONT–Members of the Greater Plaza Area Council, formerly Downtown Association, in an effort to continue to grow and enhance the community, asked for the Fairmont City Council’s support in joining Minnesota Main Street this week.

Minnesota Main Street is affiliated with Main Street America, an organization dedicated to re-energizing and strengthening older and historic downtowns nationwide.

Sara Cyphers, a member of the group and owner of D & S Trophies, said they learned of the organization through Steve Hawkins, who had involvement with it through Project 1590’s Focus on Fairmont committee.

The Greater Plaza Area Council had visited with Rethos, an administrator of Minnesota Main Street, and a representative came to visit and ask questions of business owners.

“She was quick to point out what we have strong in our downtown… and she did point out that what we have going is really wonderful,” Cyphers said.

The downtown group, which is collaborating with Project 1590, the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce, Imagine Martin and some other invested players, decided to pursue partnering with Minnesota Main Street because it wants to keep growing.

“The organization provides support for grant writing, programming, ideas and best practices from other communities. It also provides knowledge on how to restore buildings to make them up to code so apartments can be rented out,” Hawkins said.

He said the goal is to have the Greater Plaza Area Council steer the work with Minnesota Main Street but that Project 1590 will help on the administrative side.

“It’s a collaborative effort and we’re all sharing our knowledge and talents to help each other as a community make this happen,” Hawkins said.

He also noted that when Project 1590 put out a survey about 10 years ago asking what the top concerns or areas of focus the community had, downtown ranked in the top 10.

“Great work has already been done, we’re just trying to be more helpful,” Hawkins said.

Membership to Minnesota Main Street is free for the first three years with a $250 yearly payment after that, which the Greater Plaza Area Council plans to cover. However, Cyphers had said that the strongest communities are the ones that have support from the city council, which is why the group asked for the council’s support in joining Minnesota Main Street.

When the Greater Plaza Area Council spoke to the city council Cyphers wanted to highlight how much has been happening downtown lately, both in terms of retail and non-retail business.

“We had a very successful sip and shop. It was wonderful both for participants and businesses,” Cyphers said of the September event that was put on by the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce.

She said they’re also looking forward to Prowling on the Plaza, which is a new event that will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 31.

In addition to downtown businesses, all business and organizations throughout the city have been invited to come and set up a vehicle for ‘trunk or treat’ on the evening of the event.

“Right now we have over 20 businesses,” Cyphers said.

That includes some organizations such as the Fairmont Student Council, Bacon Capital and the Martin County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MCSAP).

Cyphers said some other historically successful events downtown include Merry and Bright, which will be held this year on Dec. 6.

“It’s an awesome night of shopping, carolers, Santa visits and hopefully the return of the reindeer,” Cyphers said.

She also noted that several businesses have either recently gotten facelifts– some thanks to a facade loan program through FEDA– added new merchandise, menu items or other new additions.

“The experience downtown is just getting better and better,” Cyphers said. “I think that’s because, I’ve been downtown a long time, and this is one of the strongest groups of leadership business owners we have right now. They’re active and want to see change and growth.”

The Greater Plaza Area Council meets monthly for about an hour to plan events and discuss new ideas. Cyphers said they’re always willing to hear ideas from the community, too.

“We have such a beautiful space downtown so if we bring people down here for events, they’e more likely to come back and see something in a window or meet a business owner and form a connection,” Cyphers said.