Washington Trust for Historic Preservation

Excellence on Main Award

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Ballast Book Company

Award: Excellence on Main Award

Year: 2025

City: Bremerton

The Excellence on Main Award is an award that recognizes outstanding projects and people that reflect an attitude of perseverance and dedication to community revitalization in Washington. Ballast Book Company has been named the 2025 Excellence on Main Award recipient not only for the importance of its business to Bremerton but for its many contributions to the community over the decades.

Ballast Book Company opened in 2015 as a pop-up of Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo. When the business set out on its own, Kate Larson, an employee of Liberty Bay, came over to Bremerton to manage it. After a brief stint away, Kate returned to Bremerton and took over Ballast Book so the former owner could retire in June 2021. Since then, Kate has continued to steer Ballast Book Company as a community connector, recognizing it as a significant need in the community and transforming an already wonderful indie bookstore into an inclusive and welcoming place for community connection.

Ballast hosts numerous events (like midnight release parties and author talks) throughout the year, often in neighboring downtown Bremerton businesses. During such events as sell-out author talks at the Roxy Theatre with an author signing at a nearby brewery, Kate and her crew of bookeroos took advantage of the new visitors, waiting for their book to be signed or for the next ferry to head back to Seattle, to share about the great things to do in downtown Bremerton. Kate also hosts seven monthly book clubs, held in three different downtown business locations. These book clubs appeal to Bremerton’s mix of fantasy and sci fi-loving, queer, introverted, and quirky residents. One club—Wine and Silence, an hour-long session of reading your own book silently—brings upwards of two dozen people into a downtown wine bar on a Wednesday night every month.

The economic uncertainty that has prevailed this year has not stopped Kate’s never-ending passion for connecting people with books. Ballast’s stance is clear: no to book bans and yes to love and self-expression. Despite the economy, business remains brisk at Ballast, as the community knows and trusts where Kate stands as a business owner.

But her impact is more than her own success—it’s also the economic impact she promotes amongst her neighbors. Kate insists on being open seven days a week to support people coming downtown every day of the week and encourages her customers to visit and support other shops. Every sales receipt at Ballast also includes a coupon to use at the coffee shop next door. Every First Friday Art Walk, she invites a local artist or author to table at her store, increasing their exposure.

“Kate is a fearless and driven business owner. Her passion for downtown and small businesses is evident in everything she does. She is truly a remarkable example of an entrepreneur who puts community first,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “As Kate has said regarding her shop’s name, ‘The idea is that the ship of your life sometimes goes through storms, and books are the ballast that steady your ship.’ Well, we’d also say that Kate, her bookeroos, and her cozy shop of books are the ballast that are steadying downtown Bremerton.” Durham personally presented the Excellence on Main Award to Kate Larson, who was in attendance at the awards ceremony.

Excellence on Main Award

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Mobile Greeter Program

Awardee: Port Townsend Main Street Program

Award: Outstanding Special Project

Year: 2025

City: Port Townsend

The Outstanding Special Project Award is an annual award that recognizes great projects or activities that affect a downtown or neighborhood commercial district’s revitalization efforts. The Port Townsend Main Street Program has been named the 2025 Outstanding Special Project Award recipient for their Mobile Greeters Program initiative.

When Port Townsend’s Visitor Center and Chamber of Commerce closed abruptly, there was a major gap in the community’s tourism-focused economy. Always creative and solution-oriented, the Port Townsend Main Street Program pitched the Mobile Greeter Program to their local Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. In a time when people were seeking out information differently, the program was an idea that met the need for tourism information in a totally different way than the traditional model.

As part of the program, mobile greeters park their electric bike and begin engaging with folks wandering by, offering information about local businesses, tips about getting around, and even stories of Port Townsend’s unique history. The bike travels around to different locations each day, drawing people to different areas of the commercial district, and considers events where there might be more foot traffic so the greeters can meet the most people.

While working, mobile greeters are also collecting valuable data. Zip codes, overnight stays, activities, and more help inform business owners as well as marketing campaigns and tourism strategies. The success of the Mobile Greeter Program over its first two summers has been recognized by the local Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and by business owners, who drop off information for the bike volunteers to share out.

“Originally implemented to fill an urgent need, the Mobile Greeter Program is proving that, for Port Townsend, an emphasis on flexibility, human connection, and hospitality is an improvement upon the traditional visitor center model,” noted Washington Main Street Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. Durham personally presented the Outstanding Special Project Award to Natalie Maitland, Eryn Smith, and Kris Nelson of the Port Townsend Main Street Program.

Excellence on Main Award

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Make Music Day

Awardee: Downtown Aberdeen Association

Award: Purposeful Promotion

Year: 2025

City: Aberdeen

The Purposeful Promotion Award is an award that recognizes creative, effective promotional campaigns that celebrate and attract visitors and residents to the downtown or neighborhood commercial district. The Downtown Aberdeen Association has been named the 2025 Purposeful Promotion Award recipient for its Make Music Day event, which began only two years ago.

The Fête de la Musique is a world music day that takes place annually on summer solstice in countries all over the world. Given its musical roots as the home of Nirvana, Aberdeen decided to participate in 2023. From pulling together 40 local musicians in 2023, to more than 150 (including some notable headliners) in 2024, to a two-day festival with 28 performance stages and more than 1,500 volunteer hours in 2025, Make Music Day Aberdeen has exploded and gained national media attention. The 2025 event included kids’ activities, instrument-making workshops, gallery tours, 28 businesses working in collaboration, partnerships with First Nations and Tribal representatives, the grand reopening of the historic theater, flying in a Native rock band to promote their record label, and Aberdeen’s busiest weekend, both in terms of tourism and commerce, of the year. It’s even being called “the festival that’s changing everything” by local media.

“This year’s event went by a second name: The Come as You Are Festival. [Downtown Aberdeen Association executive director Wil Russoul] describes Nirvana legend and Aberdeen son Kurt Cobain’s take on the phrase ‘come as you are’ as a dynamic mix of acceptance, we are here now, and this moment will be a memory that you get to have for the story of your life,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “The same could be said of this purposeful promotion and the innumerable sparks it is creating in and for Aberdeen.” Durham personally presented the Purposeful Promotion Award to Downtown Aberdeen Association executive director Wil Russoul, who was in attendance at the awards ceremony.

Excellence on Main Award

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Port Townsend Creative District

Awardee: Port Townsend Main Street Program

Award: Economic Opportunity

Year: 2024

City: Port Townsend

The Economic Opportunity Award is an award that recognizes enhancement efforts that have improved the economic vitality of the district including job creation and retention, sales growth, and more. The Port Townsend Main Street Program has been named the 2024 Economic Opportunity Award recipient for its work supporting local artists as part of its Creative District.

Established in 2020 through a partnership with the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA), the Port Townsend Creative District is now managed by the Port Townsend Main Street Program. A dedicated team of nonprofits, city representatives, and Port Townsend Main Street staff and volunteers meet monthly as part of the Port Townsend Creative District subcommittee. The subcommittee’s efforts have already resulted in wayfinding, art markers, and a plaza lighting project, not to mention artist-centered events including the Soundcheck Music and Arts Festival.

In 2023, the subcommittee took things to the next level by conducting a widespread survey of the creative community, hiring AdvisArts to facilitate the creation of three- to five-year plan, and coordinating monthly artists’ working group meetings and two community convenings to help shape that plan. Those efforts resulted in: 1) an arts and culture plan, which established six goals to drive the Creative District and unify partners; 2) the development of a comprehensive cultural inventory tool to track Port Townsend’s many creative assets; and 3) the creation of an artist directory to help entrepreneurs establish an online presence, connect with fellow creatives, and promote events.

“In addition to being a model for community-led economic strategy, Port Townsend’s Creative District reminds us that placemaking, promotions—especially those that prioritize paying creatives—and partnership all create economic opportunity,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony.

Excellence on Main Award

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Steve Broman

Award: Leadership on Main

Year: 2024

City: Mount Vernon

The Leadership on Main Award is an award that recognizes an individual who has shown extraordinary dedication to his or her local Main Street over a significant period of time. Steve Broman has been named the 2024 Leadership on Main Award recipient for his contributions as a community leader, property owner, mentor, and Main Street supporter.

After moving to Mount Vernon in 1976, Steve purchased a gift store downtown. His focus quickly shifted to real estate, and he began a decades-long practice of buying empty buildings, finding a good mix of tenants, and remodeling to suit—a practice that has resulted in the restoration of seven historic buildings in Mount Vernon and benefited dozens of entrepreneurs, many of whom are now property owners themselves.

Steve’s responsiveness to his tenants’ goals, not to mention to the ideas and connections pitched by Mount Vernon Downtown Association’s over the years, has been a hallmark of his impact in Mount Vernon. There are many examples of tenants whom Steve has supported and gently coached from upper-story single-room start-ups, to street-level employers of multiple people, to on their own way to building ownership.

“Steve is someone who prioritizes relationships in every aspect of his life, to the benefit of his business endeavors as well as his community,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “Tonight, we celebrate Steve Broman as an economic engine, a cultivator of future property owners, a steward of historic buildings—and, most of all, as a leader on his Main Street.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Raman Arora

Award: Entrepreneur of the Year

Year: 2024

City: Kent

The Entrepreneur of the Year Award is an annual award that recognizes the innovation, dedication, and entrepreneurial spirit of our state’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. Kent’s Raman Arora was named 2024 Entrepreneur of the Year for her hard work not only as a small business owner but in supporting her community.

Growing up in the Punjab region of India, Raman Arora knew early on that her passion and drive would lead her toward someday owning her own business. After high school, Raman left her family in India to pursue her ambitions in London. When London proved too expensive, Raman set out again, this time to Washington. Raman was specifically drawn to Kent because of its small town community spirit and historic downtown. She worked at Dairy Queen and then for many years at downtown Kent’s Wild Wheat Bakery & Café, saving her earnings and working toward her dream of owning her own restaurant.

On April 1, 2024, Raman took ownership of Maggie’s on Meeker, a Kent institution with a legacy of female ownership. Since taking the helm, Raman has been dedicated to making Maggie’s a community gathering place, and in return, the community has rallied around her. Many customers have assisted with repairs and painting and have become her biggest champions.

“Raman embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship through her determination, dedication to excellence, and commitment to her employees and her community,” said Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “The Kent community and all of Washington State celebrate your accomplishment and thank you for your courage.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Founder’s Day

Awardee: Centralia Downtown Association

Award: Purposeful Promotion

Year: 2024

City: Centralia

The Purposeful Promotion Award is an award that recognizes creative, effective promotional campaigns that celebrate and attract visitors and residents to the downtown or neighborhood commercial district. The Centralia Downtown Association (CDA) has been named the 2024 Purposeful Promotion Award recipient for their newly created Founders Day event, which celebrates Centralia’s founder George Washington and his example of community leadership.

In 1850, George Washington, the son of a Black slave, made his way across the Oregon Trail from Missouri. He settled near the confluence of the Skookumchuck and Chehalis Rivers, and by 1875, George and his wife Mary Jane had filed the plat that established the town of Centerville, now called Centralia. George not only founded the town but led it for decades to come, sustaining it through dire economic times. His leadership shaped what it means to be a Centralian to this day.

Starting in August 2017, Centralia celebrated the bicentennial of George’s birth with a year-long celebration, culminating in the dedication of a bronze statue of George and Mary Jane in Washington Park. At that time, the Centralia Downtown Association played a hand in the bicentennial celebration; years later, during the pandemic, the CDA noticed that George’s story was being forgotten. Accordingly, the CDA submitted a Founders Day proclamation request to City Council and launched an annual downtown event to continue preserving George’s legacy.

Centralia’s inaugural Founders Day event was held on August 12, 2023. The CDA brought together local historians, musicians, businesses, and educational partners to create an event that served to educate, celebrate, and promote their community’s history and heritage. The event was organized by more than 25 volunteers and attracted 150 attendees.

“George’s example of compassionate leadership, hard work, partnership, and tenacity lives on,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “The many partners and volunteers who came together to honor him through Founders Day did so with George’s legacy in mind—to promote community pride and unity.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Camas Culture Art Block

Award: Outstanding Special Project

Year: 2024

City: Camas

The Outstanding Special Project Award is an annual award that recognizes great projects or activities that affect a downtown or neighborhood commercial district’s revitalization efforts. The Downtown Camas Association (DCA) has been named the 2024 Outstanding Special Project Award recipient for their work creating the Camas Culture Art Block in collaboration with artist Maria Navarro Alejandres and educator Miranda Wakeman.

After trying for years to add colorful art panels to downtown Camas’ Fifth Avenue, the Downtown Camas Association connected with Maria Navarro Alejandres, who herself dreamed of celebrating her Mexican heritage through the creation of a mural in downtown Camas. When Maria and her art teacher Miranda Wakeman met with the DCA in fall of 2023, the visions merged and evolved from a single mural to an “art block” concept where more cultural expression through art could be showcased and celebrated. The DCA secured space for the art block by partnering with Ziply Fiber to install panels on the side of their Fifth Avenue building.

The DCA also worked with Maria and Mrs. Wakeman to create a call for artists that went out to high school students in Camas, inviting them to submit art that celebrated their cultures. Six art pieces were ultimately juried and selected, representing six student-artists’ self-identified cultures, including Mexican, Chinese, Indian, LGBTQ+, car culture, and anime. On May 17, 2024, a ribbon-cutting and art unveiling drew more than 100 people to Fifth Avenue. The reception that followed focused on the artists, their families, and the cultures they celebrate through their art. The artist’s statements—about their culture and what it means to them—are available online and linked through a QR code on the wall.

“Tonight, we celebrate the Camas Culture Art Block for creatively activating space and building partnerships,” noted Washington Main Street Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “We also celebrate Maria—for her leadership, vision, and initiative.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Bloom Team

Awardee: Downtown Aberdeen Association

Award: Organizational Excellence

Year: 2024

City: Aberdeen

The Organizational Excellence Award is an award that recognizes excellence in building a strong downtown revitalization organization while achieving consensus and cooperation among stakeholder groups. The Downtown Aberdeen Association has been named the 2024 Organizational Excellence Award recipient for its hard-working Bloom Team, cheering up downtown Aberdeen.

As a rural community whose identity and economy were for many decades centered around the timber industry, Aberdeen saw economic opportunities become scarce after the closure of its mill. These changes also affected residents’ sense of pride. But in 2014, two residents by the names of Bobbi McCracken and Bette Worth approached the city’s Parks and Recreation director with an idea to spruce up the image and mentality of downtown Aberdeen through a downtown beautification program, and the Bloom Team was born. Bobbi and Bette began recruiting additional volunteers and launched a letter campaign to raise funds.

A decade later, the partnership with Parks and Rec is still in place, and the Bloom Team is a core program of the Downtown Aberdeen Association. Bloom Team volunteers plant and maintain 150 hanging baskets and 120 sidewalk pots that are vibrant in all four seasons. Pink flowers are now a downtown Aberdeen trademark, as are the pink vests worn by the enthusiastic and volunteers. The Bloom Team doesn’t view the flowers as a Band-Aid to the very real challenges facing the district but rather a visible symbol of civic pride and an invitation to come together to care for the community.

“Bobbi and Bette’s leadership over the years has set a tone in downtown Aberdeen,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “With a clear purpose to strengthen community bonds, create welcoming opportunities for others to get involved, and show appreciation to fellow volunteers, Bobbi and Bette have planted a lot of flowers and seeds of hope.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Canton Café

Award: Legacy on Main

Year: 2024

City: Aberdeen

The Legacy on Main Award is an award that recognizes a small business that has stood the test of time and impacted generations of community members. The Canton Café has been named the 2024 Legacy on Main Award recipient not only for its longevity but for its many contributions to the community.

The Canton Café was established in 1920 by Benny Lock, whose family still runs the restaurant. His son, Sing Lee, succeeded him, and Sing Lee’s son, Gar See Lee, succeeded him. Today, Gar See, his wife Angela, and their son Lenny manage the restaurant together. Many other family members have been part of the café’s story over the years, as have countless neighbors who have found employment, company, or a warm meal under its roof.

Over the century of its existence, numerous changes have swirled around the café, including global events like world wars and economic crises, as well as more localized uncertainty as Aberdeen and the surrounding area adjusted painfully to the declining timber industry. Through all those changes, the Canton Café has been a constant—to some, a beacon. It is a Grays Harbor family favorite, a late-night stop for Aberdeen’s still-rocking music scene, and today, the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in Washington State.

“We need places that ground us, places that feel familiar and house our memories, places we can count on,” noted Washington State Main Street Program Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “Tonight, we celebrate Benny Lock’s legacy and the Lee family’s ongoing gift to Grey’s Harbor—because that’s what a legacy business can be, a gift to its community.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Great River Arts Festival

Awardee: Vancouver's Downtown Association and Local Boy Tatau

Award: Community Partnership

Year: 2023

City: Vancouver

The Community Partnership Award is an annual award that recognizes a Main Street program and partners who have demonstrated the highest and best degree of cooperation to benefit downtown revitalization efforts. This year, that award honored the collaboration between Vancouver’s Downtown Association (VDA) and local tattoo business Local Boy Tatau to produce the first-ever Great River Arts Festival in the fall of 2022.

The Great River Arts Festival aimed to foster a sense of unity and pride in the city’s cultural heritage by creating multicultural murals throughout downtown Vancouver. Local Boy Tatau engaged a diverse group of local and world-renowned artists, while the VDA garnered support from downtown property owners. Together, they carefully matched each artist with a specific wall space downtown, taking into account the artist’s style and the building’s unique features. They also rallied business and resident support to help cover projects costs and artist fees. Across seven weeks, more than 20 murals were painted across downtown Vancouver.

A project a widespread and meaningful as this one could not have occurred without the impressive partner model—including the VDA, Local Boy Tatau, property owners, business owners, and residents—that came together to produce the Great River Arts Festival.

Excellence on Main Award

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Tabatha Wiggins

Award: Entrepreneur of the Year

Year: 2023

City: Stevenson

The Entrepreneur of the Year Award is an annual award that recognizes the innovation, dedication, and entrepreneurial spirit of our state’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. Stevenson’s Tabatha Wiggins was named 2023 Entrepreneur of the Year for her hard work not only as a small business owner but in activating her community.

In 2014, Tabatha became co-owner of Walking Man Brewing, transitioning from crucial employee to co-owner when founder Bob Craig retired. Under Tabatha’s leadership, Walking Man built upon its foundation of award-winning beers and blossomed into one of Stevenson’s favorite gathering spots and a key employer in the community. But while the lower floor of the brewery building was bustling with activity, the upper floor—which is actually street level—was papered over, used as storage for forgotten equipment and dry goods.

Tabatha began cleaning up the space and hosting brewers’ dinners, pop-up events, and even weddings there, all while building out the framework for her dream retail shop with friend and business partner Robyn Legun. In 2022, Tabatha and Robyn opened Traverse PNW Market in the beautifully renovated upper floor, which represents their vision of a neighborhood mercantile in downtown Stevenson. Throughout her work with Walking Man Brewing and Traverse PNW Market, Tabatha has also served for six years on the Stevenson Downtown Association board of directors, including her current service as board president.

Tabatha is an exemplary Main Street leader who raises the bar while appreciating and celebrating that a little goes a long way.

Excellence on Main Award

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Key City Public Theatre

Award: Bricks & Mortar Rehabilitation

Year: 2023

City: Port Townsend

The Outstanding Bricks and Mortar Rehabilitation Award is an annual award that recognizes building owners or projects that positively impact preservation efforts in their Main Street communities. The Key City Public Theatre, an anchor facility in Port Townsend’s creative economy, received the 2023 award in honor of their comprehensive facility remodel—critical upgrades for a space that is used by local organizations including the Port Townsend Film Festival, Port Townsend Main Street Program, Jefferson County Historical Society, the Production Alliance, and more.

As a first step to the remodel, Key City Public Theatre executive artistic director Denise Winter gained building owner Dave Williams’ support for the build-to-suit effort, negotiating a new long-term lease and a financial commitment of more than $50,000 in rent reduction. The Key City Public Theatre was similarly intentional in collaborating with the build team, preservation commission, local tradespeople, a robust list of private donors and charitable foundations, and other creative partners throughout the project.

The $610,000 renovation included: new energy-efficient heating and air conditioning (with UV air filtration), movable administrative offices and technical control booth to accommodate more theater seats, the replacement of existing theater seats (resulting in increased seating capacity), ADA-compliant safety upgrades, renovation of the lobby, updates to the dressing rooms and backstage areas, and more. More than 50 local contractors, businesses, and artisans were employed in the execution of this project, which largely occurred during the first two years of the pandemic.

As home to more than 200 performances, education programs, concerts, and festivals per year and in daily use by Port Townsend’s creative sector, this well-loved facility has received essential updates that will protect it for years to come.

Excellence on Main Award

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Lido Collective

Awardee: Mount Vernon Downtown Association

Award: Economic Opportunity

Year: 2023

City: Mount Vernon

The Economic Vitality Award is an annual award that recognizes enhancement efforts that have improved the economic vitality of the district including job creation and retention, sales growth, and more. The Mount Vernon Downtown Association received the 2023 Economic Vitality Award in recognition of their work creating the Lido Collective retail space downtown to support local artists.

With the Tulip Festival Street Fair as their longstanding signature event and a five-year strategy centered around the arts, the Mount Vernon Downtown Association (MVDA) has close connections to the region’s artist community. They were acutely aware of how this economic sector was impacted by the pandemic and how dependent on seasonal events creative entrepreneurs are in the region. The MVDA believed they could serve both their arts entrepreneurs and their downtown retail environment by offering a brick-and-mortar outlet to expand artists’ revenue opportunities. When a prime retail space opened, MVDA executive director Ellen Gamson moved quickly, pitching the idea to her board, applying for a Nonprofit Community Recovery Grant, hastily persuading the building owner to support the idea.

After remodeling the space using grant funds and their own revenue, as well as key contributions from donors and volunteers, the MVDA opened the Lido Collective for business in April 2022, with 47 local artists’ works available for sale. Their consignment model enables artists to keep 60% of their sales, pay no fees for space, and have no staffing requirements (since the MVDA staffs the retail space). After 18 months in operation, the Lido Collective has created three jobs, prompted the opening of two new businesses nearby, and led to revenue generation for 60 local artists.

The Mount Vernon Downtown Association is truly leading the way in fostering a stronger and more resilient creative economy on Main Street.

Excellence on Main Award

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City Block Program

Awardee: Downtown Bellingham Partnership

Award: Organizational Excellence

Year: 2023

City: Bellingham

The Organizational Excellence Award is an annual award that recognizes excellence in building a strong downtown organization while achieving consensus and cooperation among stakeholder groups. The Downtown Bellingham Partnership (DBP) received the 2023 Organizational Excellence Award due to their efforts to engage downtown stakeholders through their City Block Program.

Born out of challenging post-pandemic conditions in downtown Bellingham, the City Block Program was launched in April 2022. DBP staff divided the downtown into districts, each represented by one DBP staff member and two business owners. These City Block leaders are responsible for engaging the business and property owners in their designated district—working together to care for shared spaces, organize advocacy efforts, and foster communication between participants, with the DBP, and with the city government. Through the program, new communication channels have been forged where there was previously frustration and disconnect.

District meetings typically have between 10 to 20 businesses owners and nonprofits in attendance. Each meeting starts with a reflection on the positive things they have noticed in the last month and might also include guest speakers or time to plan together. There have already been some positive tangible outcomes of the increased contact and communication, including collaboration on an advocacy campaign related to drug distribution issues, the launch of the Commercial Street Block Party series, and implementing alleyway improvements, just to name a few.

While still a new program for the Downtown Bellingham Partnership, the City Block Program is already fostering a culture of volunteerism, inclusivity, and community engagement, where the Main Street program isn’t working for—but rather with—the community to co-create downtown.

Excellence on Main Award

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Whale of a Sale

Awardee: Downtown Anacortes Alliance

Award: Purposeful Promotion

Year: 2023

City: Anacortes

The Outstanding Promotional Event Award is an annual award that recognizes creative and effective promotional campaigns that attract people to the downtown or neighborhood commercial district. The 2023 award goes to the Downtown Anacortes Alliance for breathing new life into and rallying community support around the local Whale of a Sale event.

Whale of a Sale was a sidewalk sale event started by a local merchant in downtown Anacortes 15 years ago, but over time, participation waned and recent attempts to revive it were met with little success. In 2023, local merchants called upon the Downtown Anacortes Alliance to host the event. While a new organization, the Downtown Anacortes Alliance saw the event’s potential and decided to take it on as their first-ever event, dedicating $700 for their general fund to pull it off on a shoestring.

Through their board-led Outreach and Promotions Committee, the Downtown Anacortes Alliance recruited business to participate; planned a live band, buskers, and maritime-themed kids’ activities; and coordinated volunteers to help support the event. They set a conservative goal of recruiting 10 businesses to participate—but recruitment efforts resulted in 33 participating merchants. Partner organizations such as the Anacortes Music Project got involved, and for the first time in the event’s history, restaurants joined in the fun by offering drink specials and outdoor dining options. Merchants complemented the Downtown Anacortes Alliance’s marketing campaign by offering their own blowout sales and promotions. On the day of the event, Anacortes’ streets were filled with local folks discovering new businesses and running into friends and neighbors downtown. (A pod of orcas even gave their blessing to the event, visiting the waterfront near downtown just two days before the launch!)

Many events are hosted in downtown Anacortes, but the Downtown Anacortes Alliance’s first event was unique. They were very intentional about focusing this event on Fidalgo Island locals and existing businesses. In their own words, Whale of a Sale ‘demonstrated the joy and power that we already have in our community.’

Excellence on Main Award

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Main Street Through a Child’s Eyes

Awardee: Discovery Elementary School & Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance

Award: Outstanding Special Project

Year: 2022

City: Gig Harbor

When the Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance received an email from a local elementary school teacher wanting to partner on a curriculum project, they answered with an emphatic yes. Thus, Main Street Through a Child’s Eyes was born.

The students spent a day downtown learning about what it takes to run a business and investigating the importance of being involved in their community. Breaking into groups, they each visited four downtown businesses that have a unique story and business model: Tickled Pink, Treasures4Humanity, Fox Island Trading Co, and the Harbor General Store. Ready with questions, the students’ curiosity and interest impressed the businesses, and the students were amazed by some of the things they learned – like that the Harbor General Store’s greatest expense was not its inventory, but its payroll. The stores were delighted to hear students say they needed to bring their parents back to the shop, and by the handmade thank you notes they each received from their visiting group.

A lunchtime presentation from the Downtown Waterfront Alliance shared more about their events and projects, and how a non-profit organization supports the community, and they received coloring pages for the Farmers’ Market that could be completed and returned for Market Money. Finally, they heard from the local environmental organization Harbor WildWatch.

Discussions are already in the works about what 2023’s Main Street Through a Child’s Eyes will look like. This partnership between the Alliance and the local school district has offered the opportunity to foster a sense of place and connection in local youths and to bring them into their downtown as passionate, active supporters, recognizing their futures as leaders, business owners, and Main Street directors in Gig Harbor.

Excellence on Main Award

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Mary DesMarais

Award: Leadership on Main

Year: 2022

City: Gig Harbor

The year was 2009, when Gig Harbor’s newly formed Main Street organization hired Mary DesMarais to take the con of what is now lovingly referred to as “The Alliance”. If you ask any of Mary’s fellow local directors today, they’ll tell you that Gig Harbor is known for having a director who really knows the ropes and a board that is chockablock with dedicated and professional volunteers. But it wasn’t always such smooth sailing for Mary and her crew. It’s been through tremendous perseverance, hard work, and dedication to relationship-building that The Alliance has earned the reputation as a safe harbor for the small businesses and partners that make up the historic downtown waterfront district.

To quote one of her peers, “Mary is a steady voice of reason, influence, and support.” It’s a truly daunting task to try to summarize the impact that someone like Mary can make on their community. We can learn a lot about Mary’s leadership style and the Alliance’s strength as an organization through how they navigated the uncharted waters of the pandemic. While most of the world was all at sea, Mary and crew leapt into action. They became champions for public safety, the consistent and reliable source for information, and the creative engine that kept programming alive downtown. Mary is deeply connected to and respectful of her small business community, so we all bore witness to her incredibly impactful response to their ever-changing needs.

Mary is a natural leader. She seems to effortlessly lift up and highlight the skills of others around her. She cares deeply about her people – her staff, her board and volunteers, her businesses. Mary is truly a captain whose crew matters to her above all else.

Excellence on Main Award

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Moonraker Books

Award: Legacy on Main

Year: 2022

City: Langley

Everyone can probably point to that most special place in their community—the place that you go back to when you visit your hometown, the place that some of your core memories are attached to, the place that feels like it is the downtown. A small business can be our sharpest connection to a place, especially when it has stood the test of time and embraced generations of community members. When its impact reaches outside its four walls.

Josh and Glenn Hauser opened Moonraker Books—which is named after the top square sail on a boat—on a shoestring budget in 1972. They fixed up a former thrift store on First Street in downtown Langley, and Glenn converted the upstairs loft into a second floor to accommodate twice as many books. Moonraker is a booklover’s dream shop. And, as any local would tell you, from the moment they opened their doors in that turquoise building, Langley was never the same.

It is clear just how much affection the community of Langley has for this magical business and—probably especially—for Josh herself. Just one example: Langley mayor and the city council declared June 2022 to be Josh Hauser Appreciation Month.

Josh is known as the welcome wagon, a small business mentor, a person of joy who doesn’t take things too seriously. She has built spontaneous social groups to work alongside other merchants, for the purpose of welcoming new people to town, and probably also just for fun. In so many ways, Josh lives up to her reputation of being “The Heart of Langley.”

A business can contribute to the economy, activate a storefront, and provide jobs for people. But a beautiful business—one that leaves a legacy—does those things while also serving as a launching off point, and a warm environment, for building community.

Excellence on Main Award

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Centralia Block Parties

Awardee: Centralia Downtown Association

Award: Organizational Excellence

Year: 2022

City: Centralia

Realizing that their quarterly meetings were stale and that they needed a more appealing event in order to draw more people in – which was their ultimate goal – the Centralia Downtown Association (CDA) flipped their traditional meetings inside out and created a Block Party series that includes food, entertainment, and information about the CDA and downtown. They broke downtown into quadrants – hosting one event in each quadrant throughout the year – and designated Block Captains in charge of rallying energy and participation around their section’s hosted event. Each of the four events had a $200 budget to help with food and entertainment, but each Block Captain also received an enthusiastic response of donations to host their section’s event.

Even in their pilot year of this new model, Centralia’s Block Parties have brought in 100-200 community members participating in each event. Participants include business owners, elected officials, economic development partners, residents, and more.

Each Block Party highlights what that specific area brings to downtown – which businesses are there, improvements to the neighborhood, and any partnerships emerging for future growth. At one Block Party, the guest speaker from the nearby community college shared about a new sports complex that will impact downtown; at another, the Economic Alliance of Lewis County provided information about an early learning center opening on that end of downtown. The summer Block Party honored a legacy business in the district.

There are many aspects of organizational excellence at play here – willingness to change, a commitment to bringing more people in through education and fun, putting the spotlight on both the organization and the district, and showing value to elected officials, downtown stakeholders, and other partners.