COMMUNITY SPIRIT: Main Street group focuses on downtown area

Jul. 15—The Tahlequah Main Street Association grown over the past 21 years, with the group's focus remaining on the community.

TMSA Executive Director Jamie Hale said the group is considered a nonprofit, accredited under the National Main Street Center and affiliated with the Oklahoma Main Street Center. TMSA has three paid employees, with 17 people on the TMSA Board and various people on each committee. Hale said about 40 regular volunteers help out each month, with larger events, like the Red Fern Festival, calling for more.

"What we do is we focus solely on downtown," Hale said. "Our corridor spans seven blocks from Goingsnake on Muskogee Avenue to Chickasaw and also on the east and west, those same blocks on Water and College."

TMSA focuses on these areas through the Main Street Four Point Approach, which includes design, organization, economic vitality, and promotion. Hale said TMSA's design team focuses on downtown beautification projects, decorations, etc., while the promotion committee does outreach to promote the area through the creation of directories, maps, and by staging events like Ladies Night Out. The organization committee is over the entire association and concentrates on issues such as bylaws. The economic vitality group deals with business recruitment and retention, while also hosting projects like the Main Street Mobsters.

TMSA often plans small projects throughout the year, but it also produces four main events: the Red Fern Festival, Ladies Night Out, the Cookie Stroll, and the OksWagen Festival. The association helps create and host events, and it also boost downtown property and business owners through resources, programs, and grants.

"We have many resources we offer to our downtown businesses, whether they are what we call merchant members or merchant partners. We really focus on our downtown businesses," Hale said.

Hale said TMSA was in operation for a few years, but after a hiatus, the group was reinstated in 2003 and has continued to provide for the community for 21 years. Earlier this year, TMSA received Program of the Year honors out of about 40 other main street associations in Oklahoma. Hale said one of the main goals of the association is to create a safe and inclusive place for families and individuals to congregate.

Giving back to the area that raised her, as well as maintaining the historical side of the main street areas, are the main reasons Hale works with the association.

"I was born and raised here, so for me, it is keeping the livelihood of a thriving downtown. You can look across the United States and see many downtowns that are deteriorating, and there is really not a lot of life left in them. It's really cool to have a thriving downtown like we do, where small businesses are flourishing and there are people out and about all the time, walking and hanging out in the parks and going to events," she said.

Check it out

The next major event for TMSA will be a partnership with the Foul Air Klub for the OksWagen Festival, Oct. 5.