Presque Isle’s support system bringing about change

    Downtown Presque Isle’s looking really good, isn’t it? It’s changing – becoming cleaner, brighter, cheerier and busier.
    As I drove down Main Street today, I couldn’t help compare it to a high school girl going to her senior prom. She has shed her old jeans for a beautiful dress.  She bubbles with promise and excitement of a beautiful, exciting time. And multicolored flowers adorn her dress to accent her underlying beauty. She’s eager to enter a new social experience, drawing attention to her vibrant personality and the promise of a prosperous life. And she’s ready to face an unknown future, doing all she can to invite prosperity and improve the lives of all around her.
    Like any child, downtown Presque Isle has needed a support system to raise her from her infancy and to stand by her in tough times. This support system has been recreated during the past few years, and now Main Street is beginning to resume the promise that once was hers.
    The Presque Isle city government and the City Council are part of the support system. According to Tom Stevens, Presque Isle city manager, “The downtown area is a great example of what can happen when everyone works together for a common goal. With the downtown revitalization committee as a catalyst, there have been many recent public and private partnerships formed that have resulted in a renewed interest and activity in our downtown area.” You can see the results of those partnerships.
    Recently, the flower barrels were placed on Main Street and flower boxes were placed on the railings of the State Street Bridge. Many people have commented how beautiful they are and how they’ve dressed up our downtown. We can thank Roberta Griffiths, Ann Wight and Martha LaPointe for their hard work, dedication, and hours of volunteer work in planning and organizing this huge project. Aaron Buzza and his students from the SAD 1 School Farm planted and cared for the flowers and fixed up the barrels. The city highway employees assisted in placing the barrels and the men from the Presque Isle Volunteer Fire Department watered them, continuing to do so during the summer. The city has also placed the benches out and painted fresh, new lines on the street.
    As everyone knows, in this day and age, thank-yous are not always expressed as often as they could or should be. Let’s change that. Let’s take every opportunity we can to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make our downtown so attractive.
    Thank you to all the volunteers who have done so much to help with the re-energizing of our Main Street. You certainly deserve many thanks for your efforts.
    You can also be a part of Presque Isle’s support system. You don’t even need to attend a meeting. There are still some buildings on Main Street and on State Street that are in disrepair. They are a blight on our landscape and stand in the way of a good first impression when new people arrive to consider living and working here. You can help by talking to these building owners and encouraging them to at least fix the facades.
    Keeping Main Street clean and attractive is imperative to making it a destination. That’s a no-brainer. It’s not just fluff; it’s crucial to improving Presque Isle’s economy.
    We welcome your thoughts and opinions. It’s your city. We need your input in order to make it better. You can e-mail us at pidrc@yahoo.com or write us at: The Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee, 411 Main St., Presque Isle, Maine 04769.
    For more information about the PIDRC, e-mail us at pidrc@yahoo.com or call Sandy Gauvin (764-0876), Cathy Beaulieu at Wilder’s Jewelry Store (764-0309), or Patty LeBlanc (769-7731), or you can contact us at the address listed above.
    We meet at the Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce on the Houlton Road at 7:30 a.m. on the last Thursday of each month. Please join in our efforts to help our wonderful city.
The Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee is an official committee established by ordinance by the Presque Isle City Council and serves as a
citizen advisory board to the council