The city of Sault Ste. Marie has been named a winner of the 2019 Michigan Main Street Photo Contest sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Sault Ste. Marie was the winner of the Active Downtown category, which focused on the overall vibrancy and activity occurring within Main Street Communities. Sault Ste. Marie Main Street/Downtown Development Authority will receive $1,000 for its winning submission.
“These photos visually represented the heart and soul of our Michigan Main Streets while capturing the spirit of the Main Street program,” said MEDC Senior Vice President of Community Development Katharine Czarnecki. “MEDC received many strong submissions and the judges had a hard time deciding on winning images. Sault Ste. Marie’s photo submission, which demonstrates the unique character of Michigan Main Street Communities and highlights the enjoyment of the downtown experience by all visitors, best represented the category of active downtown.”
In order to submit photos, a community had to be either a Select or Master Level Main Street Community in the Michigan Main Street Program. Administered by MEDC, the program provides technical assistance for communities desiring to develop their own local Main Street program by utilizing the Main Street Approach™ – a common-sense approach to tackling the complex issues of revitalization by capitalizing on downtown’s history and identifying the unique assets of the community itself. For more information on the Michigan Main Street Program, visit https://www.miplace.org/communities/mms/.
Michigan Main Street’s Photo Contest was created to allow communities to showcase their downtown revitalization efforts and highlight their accomplishments as Main Street communities. The contest was an opportunity for Main Street communities to highlight the work they are doing and get local people interested in what their community has to offer. The contest ran from Nov. 5 through Jan. 18 and had five separate segments – Economic Vitality, Organization, Design, Promotion and Active Downtown – each running for two to three weeks.
Four other communities have already been announced as contest winners earlier this week. We are excited to be able to use all the photos on miplace.org in order to promote Michigan downtowns.
Sault Ste. Marie is also engaged in MEDC’s Redevelopment Ready Communities program, a voluntary, no-cost certification program designed to promote effective redevelopment strategies through a set of best practices. To learn more about the program, visit here.
