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Main Street reports $920,000 raised for Pocket Park; groundbreaking set for Oct. 22
Summary
Main Street reported a nearly complete fundraising drive for a downtown Pocket Park — $920,000 raised against an accepted bid of $1,077,000 — and announced a groundbreaking on Oct. 22; staff said contractor schedules put completion around Aug. 1, 2025 unless accelerated.
Main Street reported a strong year of events and substantial fundraising toward a downtown Pocket Park, saying the group has raised about $920,000 and that the accepted construction bid is $1,077,000. The group set a groundbreaking for Oct. 22.
At the meeting, the Main Street representative (identified in the transcript as Britney) listed upcoming events including an Art Walk, trunk-or-treat, a wine walk and holiday retail promotion, and noted the organization received a state honorable mention and achieved gold-tier status among state Main Street communities. The coordinator said staff will start using state-provided visitor-count data and a new property tracker to measure downtown activity in 2025.
On the Pocket Park, staff said Harmony Contractors is the general contractor; subcontractors identified include local concrete and landscaping firms. The accepted bid shows an August 1, 2025 completion target; staff said the bid packages and contractor workloads made an earlier finish optimistic and that use of a Vibrant Spaces grant creates a spending timeline pressure (the grant must be spent by year-end unless an extension is obtained).
"So just under, 2 weeks, we've raised 920,000," the Main Street representative said, noting the group would pursue in-kind donations and additional fundraising to close the gap with the accepted bid. City staff said the contractor prefers local subcontractors and is open to additional local bids for portions of the work.
The board offered general praise for downtown revitalization and thanked the Main Street volunteers and partners. No board action was required on the report itself; later agenda items covered formal funding and assessment approvals.
