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About Historic Downtown Sidney
The mission of Historic Downtown Sidney is to promote downtown Sidney, capitalizing on quality of life and historic resources to achieve economic vitality.
Historic Downtown Sidney is a designated Heritage Nebraska Main Street community and has been an accredited National Main Street® program since 2008.
A community’s downtown business district, its Main Street, is the heart of that community. It is about much more than just commerce. Main Street gets to the heart of the resident, the tourist, the commuter, and those passing through. A successful Main Street has the ability to create emotion along with that "sense of place" feeling.
Historic Downtown Sidney strives to have an economically vital, visually appealing, diverse Main Street that embraces our history as well as maintains our hometown character.
Historic Downtown Sidney is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization under the umbrella of the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce that uses the Main Street Four Point Approach™ to enhance downtown Sidney's social and economic vitality. Created by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Four Point Approach™ is a comprehensive method centered on Design, Organization, Economic Restructuring, and Promotion to revitalize downtown.
In 2006, Historic Downtown Sidney, in cooperation with the Nebraska Main Street Program, conducted a visioning session. An all-encompassing vision was developed and can be found below.
Vision for Historic Downtown Sidney
Historic Downtown Sidney is a prime tourist location that attracts visitors with its aesthetically pleasing facades on a variety of unique shops in a National Register of Historic Places commercial district with a public plaza which features on-going family friendly activities that highlight the community’s rich history and bold future. Quality restaurants, antique stores and niche retailers offer personalized customer service to make residents and visitors alike feel welcome.
A “Wild West” saloon serves as a history museum and focal point for tourists offering old-fashioned root beer and homemade ice cream treats served in an atmosphere that includes occasional gunfights and hangings. Visitors are encouraged to pose for professional pictures in authentic garb with any of a cast of local characters ranging from sodbusters to soldiers, gentlemen to scoundrels.
The Historic Downtown Sidney organization works with the Chamber, tourism, city government and building and business owners on a cooperative plan to market the historic downtown as a destination for tourists traveling on Interstate 80 and Highways 30 and 385 as well as a trade area for customers from a 50-mile radius. State and local incentive programs have made renovations possible and rents affordable. The well maintained quaint historic environment enhances the experience. Public facilities make the downtown an oasis for all who come for the history and stay for the fun.
Stores are open at hours, which accommodate working people, commuters and travelers. Businesses meet the needs of local residents with quality goods and services. Downtown residents, many of whom live in upper floor spaces, mingle with tourists and visitors from nearby population centers who are looking for a safe, convenient, comfortable and lively place to hang out and enjoy arts and entertainment activities focused on the public plaza.
Main Street Program
The Main Street Program advocates restoration of the historic character of downtown while pursuing traditional development strategies—marketing and promotion, business recruitment and retention, real estate information, market analysis and public improvements. Historic Downtown Sidney utilizes the comprehensive and incremental Four Point Approach™ of the Main Street Program to bring renewed energy and lead an organized effort to historic preservation and downtown vitality. Main Street is not only an economic asset, but also the community’s crossroad—a place that evokes strong emotions and helps define the community’s identity. The four points of Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Restructuring are the keys to the success of the Main Street approach. Since the program is volunteer-driven, it is important to build consensus and cooperation among the stakeholders.
Main Street Four Point Approach®
Economic Restructuring means strengthening the existing economic base of the downtown while diversifying it. Activities include helping existing downtown businesses expand, recruit new business to provide a balanced mix of businesses, converting unused space into productive property and sharpening the competitiveness of downtown businesses.
Design contributes to improving the downtown’s image by enhancing its physical appearance—not just that of buildings, but also of street lights, window displays, parking areas, signs, sidewalks, promotional materials and all other elements that convey a visual message and creates a sense of place of downtown, an inviting center of the community and what it has to offer.
Promotion involves marketing the downtown’s unique characteristics to shoppers, investors, new businesses, tourists and others. Effective promotion creates a positive image of the special events and ongoing programs to build strong perceptions of the downtown.
Organization concentrates on getting everyone in the community working together towards the same goals: a vital, active inviting downtown. Organization means building consensus and cooperation between the groups that play a role in the downtown. Many individuals and organizations have an important stake in the economic and cultural viability of the downtown district. The Four-Point Approach builds a framework for sensible volunteer-driven programming and organizational structure that matches the community’s assets and potential.
