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V O L . X X I V N O. I X A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 8 22 Norridgewock Somerset County, on the Kennebec River POPULATION: 3,300 ON THE WAY TO: Western mountain ski areas, Old Canada Road portion of U.S. Route 201 begins here. Major highways are U.S. Routes 2, 201A; routes 139, 8. HISTORIC ECONOMIC DRIVER: Timber, grist mills DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION HIGHLIGHT: New town square area from donated land; sign refresh paid for with Summit Natural Gas TIF money 'Pull off and have a sandwich' Norridgewock, a town of 3,300 on the Kennebec River, is a place people drive through on their way somewhere else, says Town Manager Richard LaBelle. Downtown, a three-quarter mile stretch of Main Street, is bookended by two fi ve-way intersections on U.S. Route 2 and 201A, which lead to ski areas and the Moosehead Lake region. "We want people to stop on their way there," says LaBelle. "Pull off and maybe have a sandwich and walk around. "We have the ability to draw people, but what's the attraction?" Recent eff orts are aimed at making downtown a place people want to walk around, including draw- ing the 350 employees at the New Balance factory a block off north of Main Street. Downtown is a small group of small wooden commercial businesses interspersed with houses, a Dunkin' Donuts at one end a bank at the other. It's not a classic Maine downtown, but LaBelle believes it has potential. Anne Emery thought so, too. In 2014, she bought a Main Street lot that still had the burned remains of two buildings from a 2003 fi re. She cleaned the property up and donated it to the town for use as a town square. It's been wired for electricity and a fi r has been planted that will grow to be the town's Christmas tree. LaBelle envisions people walking to it, eating lunch. or playing with their kids. e community can also gather for live music or a farmers market. "It adds value to downtown," he says. e square was dedicated the Alice E. Emery Town Square in December, the night before 30 businesses took part in the town's fi rst holiday stroll. Events like that add character to downtown that people may not have noticed before, LaBelle says. "It wasn't just about giving away prizes." Many residents go to Skowhegan for services and shopping, and he doesn't expect that to change, but the town could use businesses like a laundromat, a hardware store, a place to buy fresh produce. e U.S. Department of Agriculture last year awarded the town $5 million in grants and loans to upgrade the sewer system. He also hopes for a grant to help businesses spruce up facades and roofs. He'd like to see more investment in vacant buildings. Downtown parallels the Kennebec River, which is wide and majestic as it turns to fl ow up to Skowhegan, but it's a block away from Main Street. "We need to leverage the river more," he says. A new fi re station was built two years ago, free- ing up a site for Everett Tire to build a car wash, a welcome new business. LaBelle acknowledges that the eff orts may seem small, but they make a diff erence and have a domino eff ect, spurring other redevelopment. "We're a small town," he says. "We're not poor, but downtown's been decimated by fi res and other issues. It's hard to come back. "We want to be vibrant," he says. "We want people driving through instead of seeing an old mill town, to see a nice little downtown." C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N M A I N E F O C U S I n December 2014, Wilton voters agreed to designate much of downtown "slum and blight" to qualify for a Community Development Block Grant. Like many Maine towns, Wilton's industrial days were gone. Two major factories that had once employed hundreds of workers — Bass Shoe and Forster Manufacturing — had closed years before. The designated area included the par- tially demolished Forster mill on Depot Street. It also included dilapidated vacant houses and empty storefronts on Main Street. Some residents balked at the designation. "We needed to go there," says Town Manager Rhonda Irish. "Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take a step forward." The result was a $400,000 CDBG that paid for sidewalks, streetlights and other upgrades. It was the fi rst of several grants the town has used to revitalize downtown. Doug Ray, spokesman for the state Department of Economic and Community Development, said downtowns across the state are working to preserve their heritage and shore up their infrastructure. "The more that are able to reinvent themselves and revitalize, the stronger the state's economy." Wilton's story is one of many in central and western Maine, as towns fi nd ways big and small to get people and businesses back downtown. Many of these towns are "on the way to" somewhere and town offi cials want to give people a reason to stop and stay. Here is a sampling: We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We We want to be vibrant. We want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through want people driving through instead of seeing an old mill town to see a nice little downtown. And it creates sort of a domino effect. — Richard LaBelle Norridgewock town manager Downtown Norridgewock (top) is a mix of wood buildings and homes; Everett Tire added a car wash, a needed new business; donated land is forming a 'town square.' Towns find ways big and small to get people and retailers back downtown B Y M A U R E E N M I L L I K E N

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