Main Street Among 10 Finalists for Award

Havre de Grace is competing with Washington again.

The small city at the mouth of the Susquehanna River, which lost out to the site of Washington, D.C. as the finalists for the location of the nation's capital, is again under national consideration with a Washington.

This time, though, it's Washington, MO. And the White House won't be replacing the .

As first reported last week by Patch, Havre de Grace Main Street is one of 10 organizations in the country in the running for the Great American Main Street Award.

The other finailsts:

• Bath, ME
• Charleston (East End), W. VA.
• Culpeper, VA
• Jacksonville, IL
• Portland, MI
• Russellville, AK
• Steamboat Springs, CO
• Historic Valley Junction/West Des Moines, IA
• Washington, MO

According to a release from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a national jury of former award winners, community development professionals, representatives from government and foundations, and journalists who are active in community economic development and historic preservation will select the winners based upon the following criteria:

• Active involvement of the public and private sectors;
• Broad-based community support for the revitalization effort;
• Quality of achievements over time;
• Innovative solutions to significant problems;
• Commitment to historic preservation;
• Evolving track record of successful commercial district revitalization;
• Comprehensive revitalization effort: activity in all four points of the Main Street Four-Point Approach® to commercial district revitalization;
• Economic impact of the revitalization program; and
• Successful small business development.

"We are heartened, as ever, by the outstanding results the National Trust’s Main Street Four-Point Approach® is generating in communities nationwide," Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center, said in a prepared statement. "These semifinalists provide irrefutable evidence that historic preservation-based development can create jobs, attract investment and support small businesses, even in tough economic times such as these."

Have you visited any of the other communities in the running? What were they like in comparison to Havre de Grace? Tell us in the comments.