Marquette Main Thoroughfare Beautification
Status:
Completed
Town:
Marquette
Mastermind McPherson County Priority:
Placemaking
Contact:
Hayley Samford
Email:
info@mcphersonfoundation.org
Organization Name:
Marquette Chamber of Commerce
Start Date:
March 1, 2024
End Date:
June 1, 2024
Grants Awarded:
$8,750
Proposal Summary
Marquette is a growing community – with both residents and tourists. Local real estate experts, as well as visitors and residents, commonly give the Chamber feedback that our town entrances do not do our community justice. When entering Marquette, from either the north or south and downtown, drivers are currently greeted by faded signs and dead or dying trees. The Marquette Chamber of Commerce would like to request assistance in greeting town residents and visitors in a way more fitting to our unique community. This project includes updating signage, lots of repainting, removal of dead trees, and being able to open our museum again, with the help of better security and landscaping. We do anticipate that this is the first phase in a larger beautification project. The funds requested would take care of our immediate eye sores and help our local realtor better market our community.
Community Impact & Accomplishments To-Date
A project such as beautification, will be measured largely in qualitative measures. Word of mouth from Marquette residents and visitors will be our main feedback source. We will also ask local realtors for comments about town thoroughfares, both the updates and needed changes, from their clients.
As a quantitative measure, we can measure the number of visitors to Marquette’s museum. The Museum is currently only open on select weekends due to lack of security during self-guided tours.
We do believe that this project will serve as a source of inspiration for other beautification projects in the community, but those ties may be difficult to measure appropriately.
Why do you think this project is necessary?
We believe that the first step to attracting new businesses/residents, expanding local businesses, and renovating run down properties, all priorities indicated on the Marquette Community survey, is showing positive progress in visible areas of our community. In short, we hope that giving our neighbors something to be proud of, like nice town thoroughfares, may inspire local, private investment in other areas of our community. Fixing the faded signs, chipped paint, and landscaping eyesores, is our first step towards placemaking and a stronger economic infrastructure. In addition, we believe Marquette is better set up for success with tourists and travel influencers if we can greet them in a more beautiful, appropriate manner.
Collaborative Partners
Our partners will be other non-profits in the Marquette area who will be assisted in projects or serve as volunteers to complete the listed projects.
Marquette Historical Society (Fred Peterson, 620-242-3583) – Recipients of updated landscaping and cameras, volunteers
Elim Lutheran Church/ Marquette United Methodist Church (Gayle Nelson, 785-201-7675) – painting volunteers
City of Marquette (Jay Baker, 785-826-0059) – Suppliers for some project materials, partners in placing brochure kiosk, landscaping upkeep crew
People Working On The Project
No Member is attached to this project
WE NEED HELP WITH
The short-term goal of this project is to beautify the main roads into our community, the north entrance, south entrance, and main street corridor. This also accomplishes the goal of beautifying our most public places and giving drivers a more positive impression of our community, no matter how many times they’ve been through town.
Our secondary goal is to spur private investment in other beautification projects – whether that means someone purchasing and renovating a home or putting an investment into our downtown property infrastructure.
Contact Organizer
Hayley Samford
info@mcphersonfoundation.org