There will be more folks at the Washington State Main Street Program table in the new year!

Starting January 1, 2026, our network will have a newly designated Main Street Community, Bremerton, and welcome two new Affiliates: Millwood and Pomeroy. These three revitalization efforts underscore the Main Street Approach is adaptable enough to work in very different places—from the salty shores of a historic naval town to Eastern Washington communities, one a mill town adjacent to Spokane and the other the only incorporated city in Garfield County. The Main Street Approach is effective in a range of towns and cities because it builds on the distinctive sense of place unique to each, with historic downtowns at the heart of economic and community development.

July 2025 Grand Opening for Quincy Square, managed by Downtown Bremerton Association

Congratulations to Downtown Bremerton Association

Following selection committee recommendations in fall 2025, Bremerton was announced as a 2026 Main Street Community at this year’s PLACES Conference, Washington’s annual statewide conference focused on the continued care of place through historic preservation, placemaking, and economic vitality, brought to you by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation. To become a designated Main Street Community, nonprofit organizations must show through key criteria that they are actively using the Main Street Approach to energize downtown spaces, small businesses, and community identity through grassroots engagement and resourcefulness. Downtown Bremerton Association wasn’t only celebrating Community designation at PLACES in Gig Harbor, a whole crew turned out to cheer for Ballast Book Company, owned by DBA Board Member Kate Larson, which took home the Excellence on Main Award.

No overnight success, these accolades are recognition for years of community and economic development work by the Downtown Bremerton Association (DBA) board, staff, partners, and volunteers. The persistent efforts to support downtown businesses included monthly First Friday Art Walks to bolster sales for businesses and artists, a contract with Labor & Industry which resulted in the “Brew Break” learning series, and latest and largest of all is the management of Quincy Square—the revitalized street plaza meant to grow the creative economy, bring community together through music, and named in honor of world-renowned producer Quincy Jones. Jones grew up in Bremerton after his father moved the family to the area when he took a job at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. All these projects and programs tie back into the larger vision and strategy DBA has of a downtown that draws on the naval and creative history of the community and uses that unique history as a foundation for the future. Speaking of the new Main Street Community designation, DBA Board President Sam Enlow put it well when she said, “This status is not just a title, it’s the result of years of work, belief, and love for Bremerton’s downtown. I’m so proud of what we’ve built together with our board of directors, volunteers, and our Executive Director Jess Combs, and even more excited about what lies ahead.”

Millwood Downtown
Pomeroy Downtown

Welcome New Affiliates

Joining our network in 2026 as Affiliates are the Millwood Community Association and City of Pomeroy. Incorporated in 1927, Millwood is a city of almost 2,000 that grew around the over 100-year-old Inland Empire Paper Company and is now nestled between the City of Spokane, which is currently supporting a Main Street Neighborhood District Grants program in partnership with the Washington Trust, and Spokane Valley. Known for being the first incorporated city in the Spokane Valley, Millwood’s historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places. Pomeroy is a town of nearly 1,500 with a historic downtown commercial district along what is now U.S. Route 12, but has been a means of travel since time immemorial—the Lewis and Clark Expedition followed the Nez Perce Trail through the area. Pomeroy boasts a restored County Courthouse, and its historic district is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We are excited to welcome and work with both these groups of downtown enthusiasts as they strengthen the hearts of their communities as Affiliates.

Affiliates are communities and organizations exploring how the Main Street Approach can serve as the guide in meeting their revitalization goals. For the Millwood Community Association, an independent nonprofit driven by the mission to foster and monitor the welfare of the Millwood community, including protection of the historic nature of the village, joining the Washington State Main Street Program will be a step toward using the Main Street Approach to organize their growth and learn more best practices from peers in the Main Street network. For Pomeroy, joining the network as a municipality at the beginning of formalizing the existing local revitalization effort with interested community members means they can avoid reinventing the wheel while building a foundation for a sustainable place-based economy. In each instance, the Main Street Approach becomes their scaffold for building projects and programs to strengthen their historic cores under a comprehensive strategy.

Using local resources and initiative, the Washington State Main Street Program helps our network of 79 towns and cities develop their own strategies to stimulate long-term economic growth and civic pride. We provide access to information, support the capacity of local downtown revitalization leaders, and offer guidance to organizations interested in downtown revitalization. To learn more about Washington Main Street, visit preservewa.org/programs/mainstreet.

The Washington State Main Street Program is a program of the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, managed under contract by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.