Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival

Hi Everyone!
Time to start thinking about December! We are beginning to get ready for our Third Annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival which will be held on Saturday, December 13, 2008 on Monroe Street in Fairmont, WV. This is West Virginia's most authentic one day Italian-heritage street festival and we are so proud to be hosting it for a third year in a row. Each year the festival gets bigger and better!

The Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival is based on Bob Tinnel's graphic novel of the same name, which chronicles his memories of growing up in nearby Rivesville, WV. You can see Bob's blog by going to sevenfishesblog.com. Also, check out this cool ad that was on youtube for last year's festival. I thought it was great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7GU6tvReg

Can't wait to do it again this year! Won't you join us?

VOLUNTEER!

For those of you interested in volunteering with Main Street Fairmont, check out www.Volunteerwv.org! It's a great site that will list volunteer opportunities with Main Street Fairmont and many other great organizations throughout West Virginia.

Of course, you are always welcome to either call or stop in anytime-- we are always happy to meet a new volunteer!

welcome to the board!

Main Street Fairmont is happy to inaugurate its new Board of Directors for the 2008-2009 year. We are excited about Fairmont's future with new, motivated members!

Please welcome Kim Thorne, Cliff Jackson, Karen Gribben, Marcella Yaremchuk, Jerry Ragen, Sharon Swearengen, Nancy Bickerstaff, Vicki Angotti, Bill Burdick, Brian Floyd, Dolores Spatafore, and Mary Jo Thomas.

An initial monthly meeting was held on July 28 although the group will meet for a half day board member training session on Wednesday, August 27. After that meeting, the sky is the limit for this group!

We really appreciate the time and energy this board plans to offer to make Main Street Fairmont a success!

Newest Main Street Fairmont Member!

Please welcome Concept 1 Auto Service to our Main Street district. Formerly located on Fairmont Avenue at 7th Street, Concept 1 moved to 400 Adams Street near the Fairmont Theatre and Veterans Square.

Concept 1 Auto Service's motto is "A return to an old fashioned concept: good service at a fair price." Owner Mike Crawley told me that they have the lowest labor rate in Marion County! You can contact them at 366-7671.

We are excited that Concept 1 Auto Service chose to relocate their business downtown- and look forward to many years of success!

Facade and Sign Grants

Health Naturally, located at 217 Fairmont Avenue, is our newest recipient of a sign grant! Patricia Parker, owner of Health Naturally, worked with Acorn Graphics to design a fanciful sign which is a great addition to our Main Street neighborhood. We are really excited to see that so many Main Street Fairmont members are taking advantage of our facade and sign grant program.

The facade grant program is a 50/50 match grant which provides up to $5,000 for work on a facade in the downtown historic district. This grant is applicable for window repairs, repointing brick, new designs and a lot more. The sign grant is a 50/50 match which provides up to $500 for a new sign.

If you are interested in more information about these sign and facade grants, call us at 366-0468 or email contact@mainstreetfairmont.org.

Preserve America

Did you know that the city of Fairmont is a Preserve America community? This White House designation is highly competitive and a great honor for us. Any organization in the city can now apply for grant funds for their organization. Main Street Fairmont applied for funding for a project called Finding Fairmont's History. We hope to do an oral history and walking tour of downtown Fairmont and use the information in free podcasts. We are super excited about the possibilities of these podcasts and walking tours because aside from their economic development potential, they really will help bring our community together around our history. If successful, we hope that you will join us by sharing your memories of downtown.

Keep your fingers crossed as we should find out the results of our application in September!

Annual Meeting- Save the Date!

Just a quick note to remember-- our annual meeting and volunteer recognition program is coming up on August 26 at 5:00pm at the Marion County Transit Authority at 400 Quincy Street!!

Welcome!

Hi- and thanks for visiting!
Main Street Fairmont is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to revitalizing downtown Fairmont by following the Four Point Approach of the National Main Street Center. The Four Points are a holistic approach to revitalzing downtown and include equally working on economic restructuring, design (historic preservation and beautification), promotion and organization (fundrasing and volunteer management).

Main Street Fairmont is always looking for a few great volunteers. Please drop us an email or call us at 304.366.0468 to see how you can help!

Stay tuned for upcoming events!