St. Cloud Main Street receives 2020 national accreditation, leads official re-opening of Downtown St. Cloud

On Saturday St. Cloud Main Street, along with the City of St. Cloud and the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce, led the official re-opening ceremony and ribbon cutting for the downtown St. Cloud Business District. The “2020 Rewind: We Missed You St. Cloud” event made it possible for residents and visitors to stroll through downtown to shop, support, and welcome back the businesses to some semblance of normalcy amid the months-long pandemic. Face coverings. social distancing and other CDC best practices didn’t dampen the spirits of the merchants, nor those in attendance. It was a clear and warm day with beautiful blue skies… perhaps a sign of what’s to come for the St. Cloud Main Street merchants.

St. Cloud Main Street was recently designated as a 2020 Accredited Main Street America™ program. Accredited status is Main Street America’s top tier of recognition and signifies a demonstrated commitment to comprehensive commercial district revitalization and proven track record of successfully applying the Main Street Approach™.

President & CEO of the National Main Street Center, Patrice Frey said, “These Accredited Main Street programs have proven to be powerful engines for revitalization by sparking impressive economic returns and preserving the character of their communities. During these challenging times, these Main Street programs will be key to bringing economic vitality back to commercial districts and improving quality of life during the recovery process.”

St. Cloud Main Street’s performance is evaluated by Florida Main Street which works in partnership with Main Street America to identify the local programs that meet ten rigorous performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.

2020 marks the 20th year for St. Cloud Main Street, and to date they’ve managed to accumulate 56 state awards over those years.

St. Cloud Main Street has expanded its footprint to include east to Virginia Ave and west to Wisconsin Avenue in St. Cloud, both on 10th St. and Lakeshore Blvd. With many historic preservation initiatives under their belt they are working on providing assistance to their many local merchants in navigating through the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.