Price City Press Release
The Price City Business Improvement District has been discussing the many aspects of how to improve the downtown area of Price over the last few months, from physical improvements in the area to ways to join together to make Price overall a more appealing place for people to visit. At the March 28 meeting, the emphasis was on events and ideas tied to events, which of all the undertakings will be the quickest to achieve.
In the next few months, the committees from the group will be undertaking some small and large programs that will draw people downtown. All are in the early stages of development.
One of the ideas put forth was for a vendor/food truck evening on Main Street. The idea would be to close the street off and have local and outside businesses bring in food vendors while the businesses downtown did some inviting things to encourage community members to visit their business. Entertainment would also take place at the same time. The coined phrase that was used was Mingling, Music and Meals on Main Street. There was also the thought of pairing it with the on-going Culture Connection programs that run on Thursday evenings during the summer months. It was suggested that the initial event could happen around the first of May when a conference will be in town for the American Planning Association. The APA has already planned to attend Culture Connection that evening as part of the conference.
There will be a state teachers convention coming to town this summer and the group agreed that something similar should be done while they are in the area as well.
Another idea that was put forth was to do something similar over Memorial Day weekend, since there are no celebrations in the area pertaining to that holiday. One business that is located downtown already has a planned celebration for their customers for that weekend, so that event could be tied in with others.
Another suggestion was also made to do something similar on Labor Day with a tailgate party taking place at the same time. That discussion moved to the fact that the Miners Memorial could be the center of that kind of a celebration.
The move toward physical changes on Main Street to make it more appealing was also discussed. The committee’s thought process is now moving more toward securing grants to help some of the building owners to improve their buildings and bring back some of the old-town look that once existed on Main Street. The idea is to start out small and improve some of the iconic buildings. The vision of the committee is to make the area not only appealing to residents, but also to college students. At present, there is a business being remodeled between Carbon Avenue and 100 West on Main Street that is going to appeal to a younger crowd.
There was also a general discussion about other activities that could take place downtown to draw people there. The youth council has proposed idea of chalk boards in the Peace Garden where a slogan will be listed and then people can comment on it below. Another thing youth would like to do is to paint angel wings on the side of a building. That is a new thing in many cities around the country and people can stand in front of them and have their photo taken. It is a symbol for the uplifting of people and is popular on Instagram.
Some of the discussion also led to transportation and bike lanes in town. It appears the city will be receiving a grant to put in charging stations for cars near the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum as well as a dog park in the same area to make that the center of things and to draw people in from the highway. It was also reported that there will soon be bike lanes put on 300 East that will go up to the university and eventually on 100 North as well. This conceptually could morph into putting in signage that will lead people to the bike trails that lead up Wood Hill and into other areas around the city.
Residents are invited to attend any of the improvement district meetings and put forth their ideas. The next meeting will take place at Price City Hall in Room 201 on April 30 at 3:30 p.m.