By Michael Howell
Joan Prather, longtime Executive Director of the Stevensville Main Street Association, true to form, is already making meticulous preparations for her own exit from the job she’s held for the last sixteen and a half years. She doesn’t plan on leaving until sometime in May, but whenever she does, you can be sure that it’s going to be a “turnkey operation” for the next director.
Prather’s involvement with the Main Street Association goes back to the very beginning of the local organization, in 2000 when she was hired.
A small group of people spent a couple of years starting in 1998 working with Town of Stevensville officials and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (of which the national Main Street program was a part). This was before the Montana Main Street program even existed.
Bill Perrin, a founder of the organization and still a board member, said that they got the town government to back Main Street because it was a program designed to maintain and increase the town’s tax base. He said that economic development was a vital aspect of preserving historic downtowns.
“Commercial property pays significantly more in taxes than residential property,” said Perrin. “For a town to have a healthy tax base it needs a healthy business district, a healthy Main Street.” Perrin said that since Main Street was started in 2000, the town’s tax base has doubled.
Prather recalled that when she took the job as director in 2000 there were six empty buildings on Main Street.
“Business people in town were getting edgy,” she said. “Morale was low. We had to do something right away to revitalize the downtown.”
What she did became her signature approach to promotion and development of the town. She looked around to see what anybody else in town might be doing and then figured out how she could help. In this case she found the local jewelry shop had instituted a very successful promotion of their business by hosting a First Friday open house celebration, complete with music and food. She approached the enterprising couple, Kate and Robert Lutzenhizer, and asked them if they would mind if the rest of the town joined in. The Lutzenhisers said great and the next thing you know, the whole town was shaking on the first Friday of every month. The very successful First Fridays continue to this day and have been emulated by several other valley communities.
Dan Ritter, retired District Ranger who is currently serving his third year as President of the Board, said that First Friday was just the beginning. He rattled off a list of special events that the Main Street organization was involved in. The list includes all the Main Street-sponsored events, such as Western Heritage Days, Stevensville Country Christmas, the Scarecrow Festival, and the Bike & Brew, as well as providing support to other groups and their events, such as the iconic Creamery Picnic, and Founders Day.
Prather said that she takes great pride in her Board of Directors.
Many business owners and managers have taken their turns serving on the board. “For over sixteen years now they have been so strong, so supportive, and with no in-fighting,” said Prather. “They are all such committed people.” One of Stevensville’s previous board members, Mel Walters, was later by hired by the State of Montana to run the state-level Montana Main Street program in Helena.
Prather also had high praise for all the volunteers.
“I would never ask a volunteer to do anything I wouldn’t do myself,” said Prather. She said that taking care of volunteers, listening to them, making them feel appreciated, is a very important part of her job because without the volunteers not much would get done.
“It’s just been a really great job for me, working with people willing to give so much,” she said.
Perrin said that one thing that made the organization as strong as it is, is the four-point approach of the National Main Street program that they adopted and have steadfastly pursued for a decade and a half.
It’s a requirement of every certified and accredited Main Street organization that it have four committees addressing economic development, promotion, organization and design, as well as a paid director. It is by using this structured approach that Main Street has been able to partner with so many businesses, the town and the school to accomplish many worthy projects.
The short list of those accomplishments includes the successful effort to raise over $60,000 in matching funds to pull down a grant for a $500,000 Streetscape Improvement Project completed in 2012. A downtown parking inventory and report was created and presented to the town of Stevensville. A Montana Main Street grant funded the installation of ten plaques on historic buildings in town and another served as a match for a CDBG grant for the town’s Growth Policy update. Main Street also installed permanent public art on the pedestrian/bike trail. It also raised funds for the painting of a mural on the wall bordering Veterans Park, and yearly beautification projects. A fundraiser in December raised enough money to install welcome signs at either end of the downtown in the coming year. That’s the short list.
The Stevensville town government has invested funds in the local Main Street program nearly every year since its inception. When the organizational structure was being implemented in 2000, the town made a commitment to invest $5000 per year for three years as seed money for the fledgling program. Recognizing the value of the services provided by Main Street, the town has approved a contribution nearly every year since, except when budget constraints prevented that. Between 2012 and 2016, the return to the Town was $26.76 for every dollar it invested in Main Street. In effect, Main Street functions as the economic development arm of the town, providing services that town staff does not have the time for.
The success of the Stevensville Main Street program has lasting effects on the community, said Ritter.
“One reason people decide to move to Stevensville is that so many things are going on,” said Ritter. He attributed a lot of that to Prather’s dedication and commitment over the years.
“This job was tailor made for me,” said Prather. “I like to see people succeed.”
“It’s going to be a challenge to fill her shoes,” said Ritter.
No doubt.
The Main Street board has formed a search committee with plans to begin advertising for a new director in March. Information will be available on the website at mainstreetstevensville.com or at the office at 777-3773.