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What is the Main Street Approach™

Working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Washington State Main Street Program, the Gig Harbor Historic Waterfront Association (GHHWA) is committed to implementing the Main Street Approach™ in our waterfront district. The Main Street Approach™ is a community driven program used to encourage historic preservation and economic development in traditional small downtowns. It is a common-sense way to address the variety of issues and problems that face traditional business districts. It advocates a return to community self-reliance, local empowerment, and the rebuilding of traditional commercial districts based on their unique assets of:

Local Ownership - Personal Service - A Sense of Community

Distinctive Architecture a Pedestrian-Friendly Environment

What are the Four Points of the Main Street Approach™?

The National Trust Main Street Center offers a comprehensive commercial district revitalization strategy that has been widely successful in towns and cities nationwide. Described below are the Four Points of the Main Street Approach™, which work together to build a sustainable and complete community revitalization effort.

Organization involves getting everyone working toward the same goal and assembling the appropriate human and financial resources to implement a Main Street revitalization program.

Promotion sells a positive image of the commercial district and encourages consumers and investors to live, work, shop, play and invest in the Main Street district. By marketing a district's unique characteristics to residents, investors, business owners, and visitors, an effective promotional strategy forges a positive image through advertising, retail promotional activity, special events, and marketing campaigns carried out by local volunteers.

Design means getting Main Street into top physical shape. Capitalizing on its best assets — such as historic buildings and pedestrian-oriented streets — is just part of the story. An inviting atmosphere, created through attractive window displays, parking areas, building improvements, street furniture, signs, sidewalks, street lights, and landscaping, conveys a positive visual message about the commercial district and what it has to offer.

Economic Development strengthens a community's existing economic assets while expanding and diversifying its economic base. The Main Street program helps sharpen the competitiveness of existing business owners and recruits compatible new businesses and new economic uses to build a commercial district that responds to today's consumers' needs.