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Monmouth Main Street coordinator outlines 2025 events, business support and new outreach
Summary
Main Street coordinator Emily McNelte reviewed the Monmouth Business Association’s 2025 activities — Music in the Park, Halloween, holiday programming, new passport events and a bilingual business toolkit — and described grant work and volunteer capacity-building aimed at strengthening downtown businesses.
Emily McNelte, Monmouth’s Main Street coordinator, told the City Council that 2025 saw expanded downtown programming, volunteer engagement and new outreach tools intended to support and grow small businesses.
"We rocked this year," McNelte said, summarizing a year that included eight free Music in the Park concerts, roughly 30 sponsors (250 average attendees per week), a successful passport event that engaged 27 businesses, and new holiday activations such as 'Wolfie on the Shelf.' She said a PA "pass the hat" during Music in the Park raised about $2,500 to sustain the series.
McNelte described partnerships with Drytown Tap House for a beer garden, collaborations with Western Oregon University to draw students downtown, and joint promotions with the Independence downtown association linked by a trolley service. She highlighted a bilingual business toolkit created with Suzanne Duffner to assist prospective entrepreneurs and noted the Main Street program’s role in connecting small-business operators with grants such as a Travel Oregon accessibility grant and other tourism initiatives.
Councilors pressed McNelte on how to better leverage the Monmouth–Independence trolley and on where technical-assistance funds will come from after COVID-era grants dried up. McNelte and staff said they are pursuing Travel Oregon grant-funded assistance for accessibility and experimenting with mixed funding models for business-support programs, including modest business contributions to sustain some offerings.
McNelte said the Monmouth Business Association recorded an estimated 680+ volunteer hours and that the Main Street program is focusing on outreach to businesses that do not routinely attend morning MBA meetings through new 'after hours' networking and marketing efforts.
The council praised the efforts and suggested continued coordination with arts, parks and local businesses to activate alleyway spaces and expand downtown foot traffic.
