In March 2021, Main Street held a fundraiser for Something New florist in Jamestown, raising $1,500 to replace the old windows with brand new storefront windows.
“There’s a lot of people in this community who will donate that time, or just a few pieces of certain projects. You had these different volunteer drives that we were able to do and bring people together,” said Luke Linville.
The original Jamestown Chamber of Commerce had not been active for a few years because of the COVID pandemic, Amber Trotter said. Last year, the four were approached by chamber leadership, and the two were combined into one organization in December of last year.
“We originally thought that we would keep two separate entities,” she said. “After doing it for a year and basically doing the same work for both, we decided that we’ll just go ahead and become the chamber and make the Main Street a committee underneath it.”
The combination of the two organizations is a blend of old and new, the four said, adding that their success is due to volunteers, entrepreneurs and members of the community.
“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, downtown’s dying,’ but we are not the kind to accept that. We know it’s not an overnight thing, but we really feel we are taking steps in the right direction,” Luke Linville said.
The group plans to continue the events and street fairs that started with Main Street Jamestown, in addition to bringing back events and business services through the Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the group is revitalizing the chamber’s web presence, to create a “hub” for the village’s events and business information.
“With what was Main Street, and now us with the chamber, we want this to become a good foundation to really start helping businesses, meet the outside community, and have all these people just really come together and say, ‘Man, we can be super proud of our small town,’” Luke Linville said.