Members of the Rio Grande City Main Street Advisory Board and the Rio Grande City Historic Preservation Commission attended workshops held at the Kelsey Bass Museum and Event Center on June 11, 2018. The workshop began with an overview of preservation principles, practices and tools as well as creating economic development through historic preservation.
The workshop featured sessions led by Debra Drescher, Texas Main Street State Coordinator and Madeline Clites, County Historical Commission Outreach Program Coordinatorfrom the Texas Historical Commission. The Main Street workshop touched upon the four-point approach for Main Street revitalization of historic downtowns followed with various topics covering program management and organization, building design and economic vitality ideas for downtown revitalization efforts, downtown promotion through storytelling.
“Storytelling is a very powerful tool,” said Mrs. Drescher. “It can have economic development impact, because if you tell me a story of your downtown, I may realize it’s not just a place to run my business or by a house, now it’s a place where I live, my home.”
The Historic Preservation workshop consisted an overview of the Certified Local Government (CLG) Program’s Benefits and Annual Grant Program, recent success stories of CLGs promoting preservation and fundamentals of design review.
The Rio Grande City Main Street Program provides many opportunities to get involved in downtown revitalization efforts. Anyone interested in volunteering is encouraged to visit the Main Street office at 406 E. Main Street or call (956) 488-0047.