Palestine Main Street coordinator reports $5,000 grant, outreach and downtown construction updates

Main Street Coordinator Mary Ann Headbauer told the Palestine Main Street Advisory Board on Jan. 28, 2025, that the program secured a $5,000 Anna Reed grant to begin work on a Farmers Market Pavilion and reported several outreach and programming accomplishments from 2024.

Headbauer said the pavilion work is part of a broader downtown connectivity enhancement project she proposed to the city council last August. She said a community volunteer and Encore (contracting/pricing partner) have begun work on design and bid collection for the pavilion and related electrical work.

Headbauer reviewed the program’s 2024 activities: quarterly stakeholder meetings, a social media campaign promoting downtown businesses during construction, festival banners, and outreach to civic groups and small-business summits. She credited Jody (the former chair now on city staff) with helping consolidate and grow the program’s social media presence, saying the account added about 1,000 followers while remaining organic.

On business support, Headbauer said Main Street connects entrepreneurs to PEDC classes, SBDC resources and SCORE mentoring and tries to guide prospective downtown tenants toward “turnkey” spaces. She noted a challenging year for storefronts because of construction and a slow retail environment in an election year but said three new downtown businesses were documented during the reporting period.

Headbauer also discussed Main Street’s accreditation packet (filed for 2025), noting accreditation decisions are typically announced around June. She urged board members to attend a regional design meeting in Waxahachie and flagged historic preservation month in May as an opportunity for related projects.

Board members did not take formal action on these highlights; they moved on to minutes and the work plan later in the meeting.