Durant Receives Two Statewide Main Street Awards

                Durant received two awards at the 19^th Annual Oklahoma Main Street Awards banquet held Tuesday in Oklahoma City.  The Oklahoma Main Street Program honored Main Street communities, organizations, and individuals for their outstanding achievements.

                Approximately 250 entries were nominated in 22 competitive award categories. Approximately 675 people joined together with state legislators at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum to recognize this year’s nominees. Durant had the largest crowd with 68 registered.

                Durant won in the following categories:

Best New Business Downtown – Roma Italian Restaurant

Best Public Improvement Project – Market Square Streetscape

Kathy Hendrick was recognized as Durant’s Board Member of the Year.  She has served several years as the Economic Restructuring Committee Chair and is also President of the Board of Directors.  She is the Director of the Center for Regional Competitiveness at Southeastern Oklahoma State University

                Durant received their first statewide award in 2002 for Best Community Education/Public Awareness. The award was for the website www.durantmainstreet.org. In 2003, awards were received for Outstanding Program Administration, Best Results in Strengthening Businesses, and Top Economic Restructuring Project (The Group Health Insurance Program). The two local awards receiving finalist status in 2004 were both chosen as winners. The Three Valley Museum received recognition for Best Façade Renovation Over $10,000, and the Pool Hall/Domino Parlor was awarded Best Façade Renovation Under $10,000. In 2006, Mega Bull was named the Best Creative Fundraising Effort and Three Valley Museum received honors for Best Interior Renovation. Newman Furniture won the Window Display award in 2007.

                Durant Main Street Program Manager Donna Dow commented, “I want to congratulate Roma’s and those involved with developing Market Square. We had several more finalist nominations that could have easily won as well. We are grateful for everyone’s contribution to make Downtown Durant the best it can be!”

                Durant’s nominations receiving finalist status outnumbered all other communities and included:

Downtown Maintenance Guidelines (community education/public awareness)

Durant Roundup Club Arena Restoration (best volunteer development)

City of Durant (premier partner)

Durant High School Service Learning Project (youth involvement)

Market Square (public improvement project)

Main Street Coffee Bar (façade rehab over $10,000)

A Systems – Market Square entrance (façade rehab under $10,000)

Marie’s & Bridal Boutique (best window display)

Blue River Books (signage)

Roma’s Italian Restaurant (best new business)

Dow was extremely pleased with the awards. “Roma’s has made such a difference in our Downtown. We are pleased for Gzim and his crew. His commitment to our Downtown resulted in doubling the size of his restaurant this past year. His customers have demonstrated this was a good choice. His food, prices, and service are outstanding, and we’re glad he chose to locate his restaurant in Downtown Durant.

One long-time Downtown business owner recently commented the two things making the most difference for our Downtown are Roma’s and the Streetscape. It is only fitting that Durant was also rewarded for the Market Square Streetscape. We are grateful for the recognition of this partnership between the City, Durant Main Street, the utilities, and the property owners.”  

                The Oklahoma Main Street Program is a statewide downtown revitalization program providing training, resources and technical assistance to 44 active Main Street communities across Oklahoma. Main Street's preservation-based approach to business district revitalization has been scaled to the resources of small cities and urban neighborhood business districts.

                Starting with many small changes taking place over a period of years, Main Street builds local leadership and local commitment to care for and manage the area for many years. The groundwork laid by the local leadership demonstrates that the district is active and vital, attracting more and more investment into the area.

 

Music on Market Square

            Durant Main Street announced Music on Market Square will be held weekly again this year. The public is invited to the outdoor stage at First and Evergreen in Downtown Durant to hear good music in a relaxed atmosphere. It will begin this Thursday night at 7 p.m.

The Thursday night concerts throughout the summer are listed by performer on our calendar of events. For more information, contact Durant Main Street at 924-1550. The concerts are free, and attendees are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs.

Special Drawings Held for Vegas Trip

Durant Main Street wants to invite everyone to visit the businesses along the Downtown Durant Streetscape Construction Route (2nd, Evergreen, and 3rd) for chances to win exciting prizes. There is no purchase necessary to enter, and you are allowed one entry per visit. Member businesses are participating in this promotion to give away a three-night stay at the Las Vegas Hilton at the end of the project (giveaway set for Magnolia Festival on May 30-31). Weekly drawings will be held including a drawing on Saturday for tickets to Durant Main Street's fundraiser Mega Bull ’08!  Mega Bull is co-sponsored by Choctaw Casino and Resort, Choctaw Travel Plazas,  and the First Texoma National Bank.

Member businesses include:  Magnolia House Antiques and Tea Room, Take 2 Boutique, West of the Wind Designs, Newman Furniture, Margie Peppers, Lifespan Counseling, First Texoma National Bank, Bryan County Abstract, Tom Criswell, Welborn Music, A&M Engraving, Bryan County Abstract, and Banner Finance.

Three Valley Museum

Selected as Museum on Main Street Host Site

            The Three Valley Museum and the surrounding community has been chosen by the Oklahoma Humanities Council to host Journey Stories as part of the Museum on Main Street Project—a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations.  The exhibition will tour six communities in Oklahoma from June 2009 through April 2010 and appear for six weeks in each location.

            Journey Stories is an exhibit fabricated by the Smithsonian Institution that examines the human drive for freedom. The story is diverse and focuses on immigrants coming in search of promise in a new country; stories of individuals and families relocating in search of fortune, their own homestead, or employment; the harrowing journeys of Africans and Native Americans forced to move; and, of course, fun and frolic on the open road.

            Journey Stories will use engaging images with audio and artifacts to tell the individual stories that illustrate the critical roles travel and movement have played in building our diverse American society. Communities are encouraged to tell their own special journey story through exhibits and other public programming thus customizing the national theme to Oklahoma’s unique history.

            “We are thrilled to bring the Smithsonian to Oklahoma,” said Ann Thompson, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Humanities Council.  “With this special tour, we are pleased to be working with Durant Main Street and the Durant Historical Society to help the community come together to discover and celebrate its heritage.

            Durant Main Street Program Manager Donna Dow is excited about the exhibit. “The Three Valley Museum is a tremendous asset for our Downtown, and we are pleased to be working with the Durant Historical Society to host this event. We look forward to January and February 2010 for our opportunity to showcase the facility and provide this educational experience for our residents and visitors. It was truly an honor to be selected as one of the six sites statewide.”

            Journey Stories is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions.  To learn more about Journey Stories and other Museum on Main Street Exhibitions, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org. 

            Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Hearst Foundation.

            SITES connects millions of Americans of Americans with their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of art, science and history exhibitions.  The Oklahoma Humanities Council delivers educational resources and cultural programming to communities across the state. The Three Valley Museum serves the local community by protecting, preserving, and promoting the local heritage.  To learn more, visit www.sites.si.edu, www.okhumanitiescouncil.org, and www.durantmainstreet.org.

Durant Downtown District Listed
In National Register of Historic Places

The National Park Service listed the Downtown Durant Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the nation’s official list of places that are significant in our history.

The Durant Downtown Historic District was listed in the National Register for its association with commercial activities in Durant. As the core of the central business district, this area has been the center of commercial development from shortly after the community’s founding to the present. The district contains some significant individual buildings, including the Hotel Bryan, designed by Layton Hicks & Forsyth and built in 1929, the 1917 Durant National Bank, an outstanding Classical Revival building, and the Plaza Theater, built in 1915 but remodeled into an Art Moderne theater in 1940. The district represents Durant’s regional importance as a trade and shipping center. The Market Square, an open trading space in the heart of downtown, is the best representative of the district’s importance.

The nomination of the district was brought forth through the efforts of Donna Dow and the Durant Main Street Program. Listing in the National Register provides recognition and opens the door for certain financial opportunities, but does not restrict property owners in any way. Durant’s Main Street program has been encouraging property owners to restore and rehabilitate their buildings, and the listing of the district in the National Register is yet another tool in the economic development of the Main Street area. For additional information on the National Register, please call Jim Gabbert of the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office at (405) 522-4478 or email at jgabbert@okhistory.org.

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