The Washington State Main Street Program team pictured with partners hosting an Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem workshop in Ellensburg. Left to right: Fay Horwitt of ForwardCities, Breanne Durham, Lydia Felty, Jonelle McCoy, Luke Hallowell, and Joi Cuartero Austin and Tasha Sams of Main Street America.

By Breanne Durham, Washington State Main Street Program Director

The Washington State Main Street Program has been around for 40 years. I haven’t yet been around for that many years (though I’m close). So how should I, in 450 words or less, reflect on this humble, little, big and complex, sweeping program…and where it’s going for the next 40? Really, the best thing that I have going for me in this challenge is the incredible luck of being warmly connected to both the person responsible for launching the Washington program, Mary Thompson, and to the founder of the national movement, Mary Means. It is through talking with them—and with local directors in Washington, my incredible team and colleagues, and anyone with a passion for building community—that it seems clear that our past really can help us chart our future.

Mary Means’ approach to making preservation relevant and accessible, when tasked with this daunting mission back in the late 1970s, was to build a framework that we now know as the Main Street Approach. She made it clear that the approach needed to be affordable to the average person, and she spread the message around the nation through savvy communication strategies that included a 1979 film and the 1984 national video conference. Every move she made in those early days was based on this idea: come together, figure it out, get it done.

“(Main Street) isn’t something that requires a ton of money or outside expertise. You can do it. You don’t have to wait for somebody to save your town, because that’s not going to happen,” Mary told me. “You can start making a difference now. We not only made it relevant. We made it accessible.”

Volunteers spruce up downtown Centralia. Photo courtesy of Jared Wenzelburger.
Volunteers gather for Clean Up Day in downtown Colville. Photo courtesy of Rosemary Shaw.

Forty years later, with support from the state and the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, we have toolkits and case studies, consultants and best practices. We’ve benefited tremendously from a network that allows us to learn together and develop resources to aid the work. And at the same time, we know that the most important indicators of a Main Street community’s success are the assets that they already have—places and people.

We’ve seen Main Street communities adapt to a tremendous amount of economic and social change over the last 40 years. We already know that Main Street works to preserve buildings, grow the economy, and weather crises. We hold those outcomes in one hand, and in the other, we ask, What else? Can we be more intentional about the revitalization journey as a community wealth builder? Can we lean into our community organizing roots to ensure that more residents feel a sense of belonging and agency? Mary Means reminds me that we should care for one another. Mary Thompson reminds me that this work should be fun. Local directors remind me that their districts are places where people go to build their dreams and feel connected to something bigger. I see nothing but possibilities.

A young resident of Camas finds a friend. Photo courtesy of Carrie Schulstad.
Port Townsend Main Street Program staff members spread the joy in Port Townsend. Photo courtesy of Mari Mullen.