Dallas Downtown Association Receives $3,000 for Summer Movies

News Release

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release Date: October 12, 2022

Media Contact:

Sheri Stuart, Oregon Main Street State Coordinator
(503) 551-3705, sheri.stuart@oprd.oregon.gov

Headline: Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce Wins $5,000 in the Inaugural Oregon Main Street “Open Door” Award

SALEM, Oregon – The Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce, the Oregon Main Street Network’s pilot Rural Regional Main Street program, was the recipient of $5,000 in the first Open Door Pitch Contest hosted by Oregon Main Street at the finale of the Oregon Main Street Conference on October 7, 2022, in Klamath Falls. The Dallas Downtown Association received $3,000 as the second-place finalist. AARP Oregon co-sponsored the event.

The Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce will use their award for a creative placemaking and youth engagement process to generate ideas and business concepts for vacant buildings on main street in multiple communities. Participating buildings will have open doors during community events to help plant the seed for new business development. “We are thrilled to kick off the "Imagine Your Business Here" campaign,” said K’Lynn Lane, executive director of the Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce,  “and we are so grateful for the opportunity to open the door and plant the seeds to growing stronger, sustainable communities and creating new innovative Main Street Spaces.” 

The Dallas Downtown Association will use their award to create their first-ever summer movie series featuring movies filmed in Oregon and targeted at bringing kids and families to downtown. "The Dallas Downtown Association is excited and honored to have received the support from other Main Street organizations in our effort to further enhance Downtown Dallas,” said Tyler Ferrari, Economic Development Specialist, City of Dallas. “We look forward to using this funding to provide events for all of Dallas to gather and enjoy visual arts, and we would love for everyone to come and visit Dallas next summer to enjoy a movie night with us!" 

Oregon Main Street Network communities help create inclusive and welcoming environments that make all feel that they belong and are invited into the community. The Open Door Pitch contest was conceived to encourage and support these efforts. Communities were invited to submit an application to share their idea for a project that they have been wanting to do to make their organization or downtown more welcoming but they just didn’t have the funding to move the idea forward. Five programs were then selected to make their pitch before an expert panel with representatives from AARP Oregon, Oregon Transportation Growth Management, Place It!, and Foundry Collective who provided feedback to the contestants.  Final voting was by the audience.

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Local Contacts:

K’Lynn Lane

Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce

klynn@oregonfrontierchamber.com

(541) 384-7777

Tyler Ferrari

Dallas Downtown Association/City of Dallas

tyler.ferrari@dallasor.gov

(503) 831-3579