Main Street Communities come in many sizes, from big cities to tiny rural towns, and different sized communities can have significantly different needs. With apopulation of 294, LaCrosse, Washington, is the smallest Main Street in Washington State and the third smallest in the Main Street Network. Their powerhouse Main Street, LaCrosse Community Pride, has used property development and community collaboration to bring back their grocery store, preserve downtown retail spaces, create new tourism opportunities, and even save the local pool. Ispoke with Sarah Kane, Executive Director at LaCrosse Community Pride, to learn more about their unique approach to downtown revitalization.
Tell us alittle about LaCrosse. What makes your community special?
Like many nearby communities, LaCrosse was slated to become aghost town. In the 1970s, the highway was rerouted, and it now bypasses our town by miles. Technological advancements meant that farming and ranching jobs that required six people can now be done by one. Our population dwindled to less than 300. The final blow came when the grocery store closed its doors, leaving us without any fresh food for 35miles.
In 2011, agroup of long-time residents banded together to preserve and transform the community by forming LaCrosse Community Pride. We purchased the old grocery store building and began making updates. It now houses agrocery store, library, acommunity space, and two offices. Ayear after the store closed, the bank and café closed. LaCrosse Community Pride purchased that building and found tenants to occupy the spaces. Over the next decade, we have also acquired an apartment complex, awarehouse building, and more. LaCrosse is resilient, and our community members were unwilling to let the town die, so we come up with creative solutions to ensure the town’s survival for future generations.
How did your Main Street program begin? Can you share afew major accomplishments?
The original LaCrosse Community Pride board was composed of several entrepreneurial members. One member learned about the Main Street program and proposed that we become aMain Street community. There was some resistance — people were worried that it would be one more “thing” for the group to take on. However, after some careful deliberation, the board realized they were already meeting alarge portion of the requirements to be aMain Street community. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the deaths of two very prominent board members, postponed starting the process for an additional two years. Since becoming aMain Street community in 2023, LaCrosse Community Pride has been able to complete the interior renovation of the Rock Bunkhouses, which can now be rented on Airbnb. We also have started the interior demolition of the Rock Service Station and plan to have it renovated into afunctioning coffee shop and museum by the end of2025.
What are some of the unique challenges of working with asmall community? What are some of the unique benefits?
The biggest challenge we face when working in such asmall community is finding the manpower to get anything done. Like many communities, 20 percent of our population does 80 percent of the work. We see the same few faces on the parks and recreation board, the school board, serving as livestock boosters and 4H leaders, and leading local business groups. For atown with such asmall population, we have 11 different community groups and asmall but powerful group of dedicated volunteers.
The benefit to being part of asmall community is that people are connected and eager to help. Townsfolk are always looking for new ways to bring new people to our community. We also are more diligent about taking care of our neighbors than areas with ahigher population density. We fix fences and check in on our neighbors more frequently. When something traumatic happens to acommunity member, friends and neighbors will send amonth’s worth of food to their residence so they can focus on getting well. There is no shortage of passion, kindness, and friendliness here.
How do you implement the Main Street Approach in your small community? Do you have to make any adjustments to meet your specific community needs?
Our Main Street is different from those in alarger area. Since we have such asmall population to recruit from, our committee groups had to be combined. LaCrosse only has afew businesses and many of them are not able to make financial contributions to our organization. Instead, they donate things like gift cards for our auctions, or they support in otherways.
We are also uniquely invested in the real estate on Main Street. Abig part of our focus is to preserve the buildings and retain tenants. Tenants that rent from us pay very minimal rent. We also try to purchase supplies for our projects from our small businesses as away of supporting them.
LaCrosse Community Pride has an impressive property portfolio. Why is property ownership important for your Main Street? How do you raise the capital to acquire the properties?
It is important that as many properties as possible be owned by those who are still directly vested in the community. Before we began taking on properties, many of them were owned by former LaCrosse residents who had moved out of the area. Many of the properties were falling into disrepair. LaCrosse Community Pride’s ownership prioritizes filling those buildings with businesses and helping create economic vitality.
Due to the small, connected nature of our community, LaCrosse Community Pride has not paid market value to purchase any of our properties. Our board members have made private donations to support us as we acquired the buildings. Some of the properties have also been donated to help preserve the community.
What advice do you have for other small town Main Street programs?
The best advice Ican give any community, whether they are large or small, is “you can fix alot of things with twine and duct tape.” You just have to be creative. LaCrosse residents have found many creative solutions to help the town move forward. For example, last year, our community pool motor died. The pool is the only activity that LaCrosse has for kids during the summer. There were no funds to purchase the motor when it died, and even if the money was there, it would take months to have anew motor delivered and installed. Luckily, one of the local farmers donated aused motor to the parks and recreation department for the pool. Agroup of volunteers spent hours retrofitting the pool and motor to make everything work, but in less than aweek, the pool was up and running again.
