Experience Chehalis leaders told the Chehalis City Council on July 14 that the downtown nonprofit has distributed small-business consultations, awarded implementation grants and continues seasonal cleanup and beautification work ahead of Chehalis Fest on July 26.

The organization said it brought a retail-consulting team to town, provided discounted individual consultations for eight participating businesses and awarded each business a $750 implementation grant to help pay for changes recommended by the consultants. “We were so excited — eight businesses took part in the consultations,” speaker Annalie said during the council meeting.

The nut graf: The update matters because Experience Chehalis is the main-street nonprofit that coordinates volunteer-driven programs and small-business support in the city’s commercial core; the group’s work aims to help downtown businesses prepare for a multi-year reconstruction project and to maintain foot traffic during construction.

In the meeting, organizers summarized recent activities: a multi-hour retail-presentation and four-day in-store consultations; an Earth Day community cleanup attended by more than 60 volunteers and vendor organizations; sidewalk cleaning on Market Boulevard (with assistance from a local contractor and the city’s street sweeper); and flower-sponsorship fundraising that covered annuals for downtown hanging baskets. “We set a budget to have eight businesses come and we were not sure if that was going to happen, but we had eight businesses take part in the consultations,” Annalie said.

The group also announced a forthcoming mural on the former Star Tavern building on Chehalis Avenue portraying Mount St. Helens, local postcard imagery and the Willapa (Willequah) Trail; the mural is scheduled to be installed in the coming weeks. Experience Chehalis said it continues to manage graffiti cleanup through volunteer crews and donated materials, at no charge to affected property owners.

Organizers described three small-grant programs that have been operating for several years — façade grants, digital grants and safety/security grants — reimbursing up to 75% of eligible project costs, capped at $2,500 per project; the group said businesses may reapply every 18 months. The group also reiterated its regular business‑networking events (weekly coffees and a monthly “Friday with Friends”) and said the downtown main‑street board has awarded roughly 120 grants to local businesses over several years.

Ending: Experience Chehalis invited the council and the public to Chehalis Fest on July 26 and asked continued city support for downtown cleanup, maintenance and grant programs. The council did not take formal action on the update; it received the report.