PARTNERSHIP RECEIVES "AWARD OF EXCELLENCE"
Author: Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc.
05/04/2010
MANSFIELD, Conn. (May 4, 2010) – The Connecticut Main Street Center has announced its 2010 Awards of Excellence recipients. Among the honorees is the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc. The Partnership received the 2010 Award of Excellence for “Special Event” for its annual Festival on the Green. Now in its seventh year, the Festival on the Green is a community celebration that draws thousands of residents and visitors to the site of the future Storrs Center each September.
The CT Main Street Center supports thirty-two member communities and seven Designated Main Street management programs by providing training for its partners and by advocating for positive changes in Connecticut’s diverse downtowns. CT Main Street Center supports community and economic development with an emphasis on historic preservation. (For more information on CT Main
Street Center, please visit www.ctmainstreet.org.)
According to the CT Main Street Center’s announcement, the Awards of Excellence program “annually celebrate[s] and communicate[s] the most successful and innovative efforts in main street revitalization in Connecticut.” The program recognizes contributions in areas such as image enhancement, retail promotion, special events, and community-consensus building (for which the Partnership received an award in 2008). In addition to Mansfield, the other Connecticut communities recognized this year were New London, Simsbury, Waterbury, Bridgeport, Middletown, and the Upper Albany Main Street District in Hartford.
CT Main Street Center President and CEO John Simone comments “Common themes that emerged in this year’s award-winning projects included the ability of each recipient to engage the community and encourage public dialogue about the needs of the neighborhood, as well as understanding of target markets for their districts and encouraging main street entrepreneurs. This year’s winners are catalysts for further investment in Connecticut’s main street districts.”
The Mansfield Downtown Partnership’s Festival on the Green was designed with many of these themes in mind. In 2003, the Partnership’s Advertising and Promotion Committee began the Festival as a means of promoting Storrs Center and drawing visitors to the existing commercial district. The Committee planned the Festival to be a true community celebration, inviting representatives from the town and the University of Connecticut to assist in planning. Over the years, the event has grown significantly to include over 80 activity booths, food booths, musical performances, and the “Celebrate Mansfield Parade.”
Mayor Betsy Paterson, Chair of the Festival Committee said, “On behalf of the Mansfield Downtown Partnership Board of Directors, and the Festival on the Green Committee, we are extremely honored to receive this recognition from the CT Main Street Center.
The Festival could not take place without the hundreds of volunteers who participate in the planning and running of this community event. We thank them for their efforts and making the Festival such a success.”
Plans are underway for the Seventh Annual Festival on the Green, which will be held on Sunday, September 12, 2010. This year’s celebration will feature a performance by the Shaboo All Stars with some special guests. For more information about the Festival on the Green, please visit www.mansfieldct.org/fog.html or contact the Mansfield Downtown Partnership (860.429.2740 or mdp@mansfieldct.org).
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