Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Artist Doug Quarles repaints the arrow leading to Tucumcari's downtown Main Street district last summer. Tucumcari MainStreet learned last week it earned national accreditation, making more state and national services available to the nonprofit organization.
The Tucumcari MainStreet organization last week received top-tier accreditation from the National Main Street Center.
Connie Loveland, executive director of Tucumcari MainStreet, said the accreditation gives the organization more access to state and national MainStreet services, including for ongoing efforts such as Tucumcari tourism branding and beefing up the city's vacant-building ordinance.
"It's a pretty big deal," she said. "By achieving this it shows we are meeting the 10 standards of performance required by MainStreet America and are successfully using a focused, comprehensive revitalization strategy to help keep our district and community vibrant and sustainable. National accreditation supports our efforts to be the center of historical preservation, economic growth and community pride."
Tucumcari's organization was cited for its "a demonstrated commitment to comprehensive commercial district revitalization and proven track record of successfully applying the Main Street Approach," according to a news release.
"Achieving MainStreet America accreditation enables Tucumcari MainStreet continued access to resources at the state and national level that facilitate the projects that our organization is able to undertake for the betterment of the downtown area and the city of Tucumcari," Cooper Glover, president of Tucumcari MainStreet, added in the release.
In 2019 Tucumcari MainStreet used $659,900 in services from New Mexico MainStreet, including:
• A $600,000 capital outlay public infrastructure grant for Phase One of the Great Blocks on MainStreet project;
• A small-business COVID-19 financial relief and recovery micro-grant program, planning for a historic building walking tour;
• Implementation of an Art in the Park event and Art Walk in conjunction with Mesalands Community College as well as hosting the New Mexico MainStreet fall leadership network meeting;
• The annual Fired Up festival;
• Its Denim and Diamonds gala, and;
• Its Very Merry Tucumcari events during the Christmas season.
Tucumcari MainStreet is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the economic, physical, social and cultural revitalization of downtown Tucumcari.
Main Street America, a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center and a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities that share a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.
