The Municipality of Meaford is launching a citizen-led non-profit "Main Street" organization to support downtown revitalization.

Main Street is a framework for locally owned, locally-driven prosperity. It is a time-tested approach established by the National Trust for Canada and National Trust for Historic Preservation (USA).

Local citizens, businesses and supporters working in collaboration will make this a success. 

The health, well-being, and sustainability of all our communities are linked to the success of our downtowns.  This is why Main Street Meaford welcomes citizens of all ages, businesses, and supporters from across Meaford, and the broader region, to join together as active participants and catalysts for the downtown they love. 

We thank everyone for your participation in this effort so far, and for offering your skills, time, and passion for moving ahead.

The recent Idea Jamming event, held on August 3, 2023, was a great success.  The included images are the graphic recordings that were completed at the event and show the many great insights the community shared that night. 

Now what? The next steps include us coming together to complete a series of pilot projects under the four points of the Main Street framework:

Design, Organization, Economic Vitality, and Promotion

The pilot projects that are proposed are listed below.  If you are interested and can offer your time and effort to get any of these done between now and the end of October or early November please send us an email.  Be sure to tell us which project(s) you would like to help with and what you can bring to the table to help us get it done (skills, time, ideas, experience, etc).  Once we hear from you we will launch the various projects people have offered to help with.

Pilot Projects

1)     Downtown Vision

Develop Main Street Meaford’s vision and values for downtown through community conversations while also building on the information from the Idea Jamming event and the citizen engagement from the Official Plan.

2)     Main Street Meaford’s Organizational Structure 

Help develop Main Street Meaford’s by-laws as well as the “job” descriptions for all the roles and orientation materials for people joining the organization.

3)     Main Street Meaford District Boundary

Building on the preliminary boundary outlined by Municipal staff, define the boundary for Main Street Meaford through community conversations and collaboration with experienced “Main Streeters”.

4)     Downtown Vacant Property Database and Opportunity Information Sheets

Develop a database of vacant properties in the district.  This will describe the physical characteristics of the properties, opportunities for these sites and local regulations and policies.  These will be resources used by property owners, the community, and for various economic development activities.

5)     Develop a Downtown Visual Building and Business Inventory

Develop a visual database of the buildings and business in the downtown that describes their characteristics.  These will be resources for property owners, businesses, the community, and for various economic development and heritage preservation activities.

6)     District Asset Mapping

Work with the community to identify the assets of the Main Street district, including the places, people, stories, buildings, etc. that make the district special and create opportunities for the future.

7)     Main Street Meaford Website Development

Help create the Main Street Meaford website as a resource for the new organization.  This will involve local information and pictures and adapting information from other successful main street sites.

8)     Downtown Wayfinding Programme

Work with the community to develop a programme for improving wayfinding in the district.  This includes walking audits of the downtown and creating sketches, maps and recommendations for making wayfinding in the downtown easier and more accessible through signage, public art, and other methods.

If you care about downtown Meaford and have questions, or are interested in being part of this exciting project, connect with the project team at mainstreetmeaford@gmail.com  or reach out to Robert Voigt, Director of Development Services at the Municipality of Meaford, rvoigt@meaford.ca.

Volunteer with us! 

Are you or do you know anyone interested in the success of the downtown and would want to work on this project?

Ask yourself:

• What personal skills and gifts would you be willing to share to help get this non-profit started?
• What are the strengths of our downtown that we can build on?
• How can we reach other persons that might be interested?
• What organizations share our interest in downtown's vitality?

Click the link below to join our mailing list and to fill out our short survey (takes about 5 minutes).

Tell us more about yourself! Your skills, interests and what you can bring to this great new initiative!

Join the Mailing List and Take the Volunteer Survey

Contact: 

Rob Voigt, Director Development Services 

Email: mainstreetmeaford@gmail.com