North Bend Main Street wins state awards, seeks to host 2027 Oregon Main Street Conference

Stephanie Wilson, North Bend Community Development Manager, updated the council Oct. 13 on the city’s Main Street activities, award recognitions and a bid to host the 2027 Oregon Main Street Conference.

Wilson said North Bend program representatives attended the biannual Oregon Main Street Conference in Albany, where the city secured three awards: Outstanding Promotional Events for the community art walk, a tie for Business of the Year for Tara Moore and her husband, and a standout-volunteer award for Barb Dunham. “We won outstanding promotional, events. So that was for our community art walk,” Wilson told the council.

Wilson said North Bend had been asked to host the 2027 conference, which requires venues and activities to be within the city’s Main Street district and can accommodate roughly 200 to 300 attendees; Liberty Theater has agreed to act as the primary host venue. She said planned conference dates are the second week of October 2027 (Wednesday through Friday), and organizers expect breakout sessions and mixers at downtown locations such as Wildflower and the library.

Wilson described Main Street programming highlights: a fashion-show element featuring North Bend High School art students at an April community art walk; participation in statewide panels to showcase local engagement strategies; and coordination with South Coast program partners. Councilors asked about conference logistics and funding; Wilson said the city will need to meet capacity and logistical checklists and that staff will return with program planning details.

Wilson said her top priorities given unlimited funds would be revitalization of downtown building facades, historic preservation, cleanliness and traffic calming to boost foot traffic.

Ending: Wilson asked councilors for reactions and said staff will continue to coordinate conference planning, logistics and downtown programming with partners and venue operators.