The Cowboy Coffee
Projects
Hardscapes
As a part of our mission to preserve and improve Fredericktown's mainstreet community the FRI is always interested in helping building and business owners with building renovations. With the inland Hurricane in May 2009 many businesses sustained damage to awnings, signs, facades but are now repairing the damage. In the process some of them are really doing great things to improve upon what previously existed. We thought we'd highlight a few.
Jimmy Thal's
The Cowboy Coffee has new store front windows, new color and soon, a new awning.
One of the most fantastic mainstreet hardware stores to ever exist is right here in Fredericktown! Jimmy Thal's has a beautiful new sign and awning.
Country Lane Rebuilt!
The Country Lane Florist facade was heavily damaged and has been completely rebuilt. The finished facade looks fantastic with the original windows now restored. Check the image to the right for a time lapse of the past few months. The first image at the top was taken in early spring 09. Notice: no windows! The second image was taken a few weeks after the storm and the original windows revealed. The third image is the October 31, 2009 with much of the work completed. The last image was taken in December 2009 and shows the completed facade.
Missouri Primrose
Landscape
Parks, gardens, sidewalks and more...
This past summer we noticed that many of the sidewalk planters had been neglected and were not planted. We ordered up a bunch of drought tolerant Missouri native perennials and planted them! With a bit of watering they have grown well and many of them have even started to bloom just a couple months later, a very nice surprise! Native plants are a great choice because they are adapted to this area, often requiring less watering and less care. Because they are perennials they will come back year after year which means that once established these planters will no longer require anything from us but occasional watering during severe drought. Many natives also provide an excellent source of nectar for hummingbirds and pollinating insects such as butterflies and bees. If you're interested in check out the Missouri Department of Conservation's Grow Native website.
Community and Economic Development
Fredericktown Revitalization Initiative (FRI )has begun work on a downtown market analysis. In layman’s terms a downtown market analysis is the process of documenting details about the downtown’s current condition, exploring changes occurring in the marketplace, verifying what consumers want from downtown, discovering what businesses the downtown market will support, and creating a downtown business development strategy.
Many communities must hire professional consultants for a substantial fee in order to have access to this important tool used by businesses, property owners, developers, bankers and investors for making better-informed decisions. FRI will complete their downtown market analysis by assembling a team of volunteers who will receive free technical assistance provided by Missouri Main Street Program staff. This free technical assistance is one of the many benefits Fredericktown receives as a designated Missouri Main Street Community.
In the months to come, Fredericktown will see FRI volunteers inventorying downtown businesses and buildings, surveying consumers and business owners, writing a downtown market profile, and weighing the supply of various business categories against the demand for those business categories.
Once they have a detailed picture of the downtown’s economy, FRI will shape a business retention campaign that includes providing assistance and training to existing businesses and helping them expand. Next they will shape a recruitment campaign to compliment existing businesses and buildings downtown. Recruitment will target businesses that people want and that the market will support. With their market analysis in hand, FRI will have a better chance of bringing business prospects downtown.
Pickin on the Square
Spring has come and with it a renewed commitment to a summer of music in Fredericktown. Fredericktown Revitalization Initiative is excited to announce that we have taken over management of Pickin’ and we’ve got big changes and big plans for the event this summer. We have arranged for a change in location to the park on North Main. In addition to the music we’re also planning a series of mini-festivals which will include a variety of activities for children as well as adults. We’re also planning a return of the popular “Movies in the Park” which will be shown each Friday after the musicians wind down.
The new team managing Pickin’ is full of energy and we plan to make this the most successful year yet. We’ll need your help to do it and are looking to you to sponsor Pickin’. Sponsorship is $200. In return we’ll add your logo to the Pickin’ t-shirt and will provide you with two t-shirts. You’ll also get a Pickin’ decal for your store window, banner placement at the event and a prominent thank-you on the FRI website! We’re developing a solid promotions campaign for the event this year and are confident that attendance will surge. We believe an event like Pickin’ can serve as an important element in a larger plan to build tourism and downtown business. Please join us in our effort to build our Main Street! If you're interested in sponsorship email Kyle.
Events
Events which we are participating in or have organized:
Azalea Festival
4th of July
Crafting on the Square
Freakytown