Oklahoma Main Street announces 2018 award winners
Ponca City Now - May 9, 2018 11:01 am
Ponca City Main Street Director Chelsea McConnell, center, was honored as the Outstanding Director of the Year.
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Main Street Center announced the winners in 21 competitive award categories during the 29th annual Main Street Awards Banquet Tuesday at the Embassy Suites Downtown Medical Center Hotel.
Main Street programs in Ponca City and Newkirk took home several of the awards.
“Awards night is always exciting for the Main Street communities throughout the state as well as for the Oklahoma Main Street Center,” said Buffy Hughes, director of the Oklahoma Main Street Center program. “It is a spirited competition that celebrates the positive and meaningful impact on each community through the dedicated people, original events, historic preservation, and financial investment. Cheers to the winners.”
Each award falls under one of the “four points” in the Main Street Approach – Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Vitality.
The 2018 award winners include:
ORGANIZATION:
Premier Partner
Sapulpa – SeneGence International
Best Community Education/Public Awareness
Newkirk – Good Luck Card Game
Best Volunteer Development Program
Wilburton – Digger Forward
Main Street Hero
Okmulgee – Dr. Bill Path
Best Creative Fundraising Effort
Ponca City – Battle of the Burger
PROMOTION:
Premier Special Event Under 1,000 Attendees
Collinsville – Taste of Collinsville: Music is to the Body as Food is to the Soul
Premier Special Event Over 1,000 Attendees
Claremore – Food Truck Thursday
Best Retail Event
Ponca City – Ladies Night on Grand
Outstanding Image Promotion
Durant – Durant Main Street Rebrand
Creative New Event
Ardmore – Farm to Table Dinner
DESIGN:
Best Placemaking Project
Ponca City – Outside the Box
Best Sustainable Design Project
Ponca City – Veterans’ Plaza
Best Interior Design Project
Okmulgee – The McBrayer Building
Best Façade Rehabilitation Under $10,000
McAlester – Common Roots
Best Façade Rehabilitation Over $10,000
Okmulgee – The McBrayer Building
Best Visual Merchandising
Durant – Bella Ragazza Boutique
Best Building/Business Branding
El Reno – Wandering Daisy Boutique
ECONOMIC VITALITY:
Best Adaptive Reuse Project
Okmulgee – The McBrayer Building
Best Business Practices
El Reno – Ross Seed Co./True Value Hardware
Best New Business
Kendall Whittier – Fair Fellow Coffee
Business of the Year
Newkirk – Albright Abstract & Title Guaranty Company
In addition to the awards listed above, Main Street programs throughout the state vie for the honor of the outstanding Main Street program. Those making the list this year include: Altus, Cherokee, Claremore, Collinsville, Enid, Newkirk, Okmulgee, Ponca City, Sapulpa, Stockyards City and Tulsa Route 66.
The 2018 Outstanding Main Street Program of the Year is: Ponca City Main Street.
The Oklahoma Main Street Center also recognized the outstanding program director of year. The award is named after a former director who embodied all aspects of the Main Street program. This year the “Watonga Bob Shoemaker Award” was awarded to Chelsea McConnell, Ponca City Main Street director.
The OMSC also gave an award to a long-serving program director upon her retirement after more than 20 years of commitment to her local community and program. This year, the Oklahoma Main Street Center Legacy Award went to Karen Dye of Newkirk.
The Oklahoma Main Street Center would also like to thank the sponsors for this year’s banquet: the Cherokee Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Okmulgee Main Street, Embassy Suites Oklahoma City Downtown Medical Center Hotel, Cory’s Audio Visual, Discover Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
For more information about the Oklahoma Main Street Program, please call (405) 815-6552 or visit www.OKcommerce.gov/mainstreet.
