ALTON - Alton is one of 10 small towns making the cut for a $500,000 makeover from a Michigan-based small business and financial institution growth engine.
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Deluxe Corporation announced its top 10 finalists Tuesday afternoon for the third season of its Small Business - Main Street series, which airs on www.smallbusinessrevolution.org as well as Hulu and YouTube. The series offers small businesses a $500,000 makeover courtesy of Deluxe during an eight-part series. On Sept. 28, 2017, Deluxe aired its second season, which took place in the small community of Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania. The makeover also features marketing experts from Deluxe Corporation, led by Chief Brand and Communications Officer Amanda Brinkman, who also hosts the program.
"We had an incredibly difficult task to get down to only 10 communities," Brinkman said in a release from Deluxe. "Every small town can use a boost, but we are excited to start visiting this group of 10 towns in January. Small businesses in small towns are incredibly important to our national economy. Deluxe is honored to shine a spotlight on these deserving communities."
Team members from Deluxe will travel to the 10 communities on the list to meet with both civic and business leaders and conduct interviews with business owners to gauge their marketing expertise, the release stated.
From that point, the company will narrow the list to five, which will go to a public vote from Feb. 13-20, 2018, in an effort to choose a winner.
In previous interviews with Riverbender.com following Alton being listed in the top 20 finalists, Alton Main Street Executive Director Sara McGibany said she believes Alton's selection is due to its revival of Downtown and Broadway. She said it was nominated by Lauren Pattan of Old Bakery Beer Company.
"One of the biggest changes that I've seen in recent years is the resurgence in attention along East Broadway and its ancillary streets," McGibany said in previous interviews. "Many of these buildings are very large, and were built for an intended purpose that is no longer needed. So it takes vision to reimagine these properties and a bit of risk to fund their adaptive reuse."
Buildings McGibany cited included the Old Bakery Beer Company, which was - as its name implies - once a bakery, and the former Cracker Factory, which is now being utilized as an upscale hospitality suite.
"Alton's Downtown District is enjoying a surge of private investment in recent years, and being a part of such a notable national competition would be quite a boost for Alton's burgeoning business economy," McGibany said. "Gaining this recognition would surely help continue our progress and attract additional momentum to push our community past the tipping point toward additional success."
The other nine finalists for the competition are:
- Aberdeen, South Dakota
- Americus, Georgia
- Amesbury, Massachusetts
- Bastrop, Texas
- Brainerd, Minnesota
- Exeter, New Hampshire
- Florence, Oregon
- Martinez, California
- Siloam Springs, Arkansas
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