Atkins Music Center Owner Denise Friel lets Rick Siger strum a few chords during his walking tour of Connellsville businesses.
The secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development visited Connellsville Thursday to talk to local business owners about the governor’s $25 million proposal to establish a new “Main Street Matters” program.
Rick Siger stopped by the Connellsville Canteen on West Crawford Avenue to discuss how the proposal could benefit the city’s business district. “Main Street Matters” is part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed 2024-2025 budget. It is meant to build upon DCED’s existing Keystone Communities program.
“Main Streets are places where businesses and people want to be. They’re places where young people want to live, where friends and family want to visit,” Siger said. “They’re the place that people think of when you say the name of a place. They’re community hubs for people to gather, and they’re important economic engines that fuel local and regional growth.”
According to Siger, the $25 million investment is meant to give communities across Pennsylvania an opportunity to enhance their “Main Street” areas.
“Keystone Communities has been a really great tool for our regions, but it’s time to do more. We need to invest more now not just to compete, but to help our regions succeed in this new global economy,” Siger said.
Siger added that Main Street Matters will raise the value of grants for projects like facade restoration.
Michael Edwards, the executive director of the Connellsville Redevelopment Authority, said the city’s Downtown Connellsville Committee, which has been operating for 15 years, made Connellsville a good fit to discuss the governor’s proposal.
“Since Connellsville over the past 15 years has run its own Main Street program, they chose to come and showcase what we’ve been doing here,” Edwards said.
Siger was introduced Thursday by Connellsville City Manager Vern Ohler. Ohler jokingly apologized that “some” construction was going on outside, referring to the ongoing reconstruction of the McCray Robb Bridge. The bridge was closed in January, and the project has hurt the bottom line of some nearby businesses.
“But, you have to mess up to fix up,” Ohler said.
After Siger spoke he took a walking tour of Connellsville’s business district, visiting multiple businesses, including Pat’s Bridal Boutique, T&A House of Treasures, Premiere Dance Center and Atkins Music Center.
Pat Wilders, owner of Pat’s Bridal Boutique, said the bridge closure has not had too much of an effect on her business.
“We still have our regular customers who come anyhow (but) it definitely has hurt the town,” Wilders said.
She hopes that if the Main Street Matters program receives its funding that it will help bring more business into town.
“When I started here, the town was booming. All kinds of stores … It was just a variety of stores. Every building was filled,” Wilders said.
Atkins Music Center has taken a bigger hit from the construction. Owner Denise Friel said her store has three pillars: Retail, teaching, and rentals.
“Right now retail is struggling. People aren’t coming into town,” Friel said.
Friel is cautiously optimistic about the Main Street Matters program. She hopes that Connellsville will stand to benefit in the long run.
“When you look at the figures, $25 million? You think that’s a lot of money, but then you look at all the communities that need it,” Friel said. “I hope today that we’ve made a good impression on the secretary and that he thinks we’re worthy of getting a little of that aid in our direction.”