Alton Main Street welcomes new board members

Alton Main Street has welcomed four new members to its board of directors.

Damian Jones, Roger Lewis, Chris Miller and Michael Snider were named effective in 2020.

Antione Williams has accepted the role of president for the coming year.

They will help chart the course of how the Downtown Alton district develops.

Residents, business owners, makers, growers or representative of a corporation that would like to help elevate the efforts can visit website DowntownAlton.com to learn more.

Executive Director Sara McGibany said Alton Main Street last year adopted three transformation strategies as guiding principles of its work. She summed it up in a recent newsletter to the community.

“First is The Outdoor Experience. We collaborated with the City of Alton on the Great Streets grant application which resulted in $500,000 for planning resources to improve the safety and aesthetics of our roadways. We also raised funds for new holiday decor in the Third Street area, and coordinated 1,200 hours of volunteer litter removal and 400 hours of public landscape maintenance to keep the district looking its best.

“Second is Encouraging Entrepreneurship. W were happy to assist eight new businesses as they opened their doors, including yet another Farmers & Arti-sans’ Market vendor who has graduated to brick and mortar, which always gives us a special point of pride. This summer we coordinated a listening session for small businesses with Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and gave her a tour of the district. We partnered with the IT Entrepreneurial Network to coordinate a Business Canvas Workshop, and with Washington University to host an IdeaBounce, designed to spur entrepreneurship and encourage residents to dream big.

“Third is Cultivating Creativity. We coordinated a variety of public art in 2019, including artist-decorated picnic tables at the Alton Dog Park and art installations at many of our free community events.”