As rough as 2020 has been in any number of ways, it was good to see some cheer spread across the downtown business landscape.
The Santa Claus effort was the product of Pine Bluff Downtown Development, an agency with the mission of revitalizing the downtown area.
Joy Blankenship, the director, said she received $22,500 from the state Historic Preservation Program and Main Street Arkansas and was asked to use it to help businesses that had been hit by the pandemic. She, in turn, created grants that could be used for rent or utilities or for buying signage and hygiene stations that have become standard operating equipment for most businesses during the covid-19 pandemic.
Not all businesses that could have applied did so, but every one of them that tried for the funding received it, with most getting the full amount of $2,400.
What an excellent idea. If we want a viable downtown, there have to be downtown businesses. And this money helped these businesses continue to operate.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Not only has there been a pandemic, during which people are hesitant to get out, but there has been a lot of downtown construction with the streetscape project. That work, while it will produce a result that will soon be attractive, caused traffic problems along the way, making it difficult for customers to get to these businesses. The end result was a group of owners that was starting to feel the pinch.
“It came in at just the right time,” said one of the recipients, Margaret Smith, owner of Unique Cakes by Margaret, at 214 W. Barraque St. “What with all the work, people can’t get to me. They can’t navigate to get to us on a 30-minute lunch. It was really getting stressful down here.”
Blankenship said she and her staff were overjoyed to be able to give back to these folks who put it all on the line to keep their businesses up.
“We gave it out, and for us, it was almost like it was a Christmas present,” she said. “They work so hard, and they needed it. They were so appreciative.”
Small things like this keep the wheels turning. The annual grant from the state was larger than it has been, so that was a nice addition, and getting the money to the places where it can help the most was prudent and quick use of the funding. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject, it wouldn’t hurt these owners’ feelings a bit if you drove downtown and did some business with them. In the end, it’s really on all of us to make sure that our downtown is a destination.