We’re so excited to celebrate the magic of Main Street in Washington State for our third annual Main Street Week, taking place June 9-15, 2024. Main Street embodies the heart and spirit of our communities, and it’s particularly special to be celebrating 40 years of Main Street in Washington State. The primary goal of Main Street Week is to provide tools and opportunities for you, the local Main Street organizations across the state, to tell your story and engage key decision-makers and stakeholders (including legislators, city and county elected officials, donors, etc.). We hope this communications toolkit, created by Hey Atlas Creative, helps you do that.
“What creates a sense of belonging for you in our downtown?”
Kick off Main Street Week by asking your local residents, business owners, and other community members this question. Download one (or both!) of the Story graphics, and use the “Questions” Sticker on either Instagram or Facebook Stories to place a box over the space that says “Place Question Box Here” to collect responses from your followers. For step-by-step instructions on how to do this and on how to view responses to your question(s), download the tutorial document embedded below. NOTE: while the tutorial says “Instagram Stories,” you can use these graphics in Facebook Stories too if you don’t have an Instagram profile—the same “Question” box is available as a sticker on both platforms.
Instagram/Facebook Story Graphics for Question Prompt
Canva Template for Sharing Question Responses
EXAMPLE POST
Once you receive responses on your question Story, use this Canva template to create graphics with any of the responses you would like to share with the rest of your community. See the tutorial document for step-by-step instructions on how to add responses to the Canva template. Download the graphics, and share with your followers. While the template is sized for Instagram feed posts, you could also share the graphics you create with the question responses on your Main Street’s Facebook page, in a newsletter, or other communications channel.
Main Street’s Downstream Impacts
Main Street’s impacts reach far beyond the standard economic returns on investment (though those are still worth writing home about!) and are oftentimes far downstream from the source. When we take a look at the everyday work of local Main Street organizations, we see that building civic pride, encouraging people to step up into leadership roles, supporting the dreams of entrepreneurs, and fostering spaces and places where people connect and live their lives together—these actions all have downstream impacts that make our communities stronger, in little ways and in big.
Use the below copy to accompany each of the toolkit graphics illustrating a Main Street “downstream impact” for your social media posts or other communications:
The everyday work of local Main Street organizations—to build civic pride, encourage leadership, support the dreams of entrepreneurs, and foster places where people love to be—all have downstream impacts that make our communities stronger. Here is one example of a Main Street “downstream impact,” but we also want to know how downtown has impacted YOUR life!
Download the graphics above individually or as a whole via Dropbox here.