Programs & InItIAtiveS
Downtown GFW Programs are designed to bring people downtown, support local businesses and create a more vibrant community. From events and promotions to beautification, business initiatives and visitor experiences, each program has one goal: give people more reasons to discover, meet and grow downtown.
Downtown Facade Improvement
A vibrant downtown starts with buildings and storefronts that people notice, remember and want to visit. The Downtown Facade Improvement Program is about encouraging property and business owners to invest in the appearance of Downtown GFW through improvements such as storefront upgrades, signage, lighting, windows, awnings, paint, landscaping and other exterior enhancements.
The goal is bigger than improving individual properties. Every improved storefront strengthens the entire downtown, creating a more welcoming streetscape, supporting existing businesses, attracting new investment and giving residents and visitors another reason to spend time downtown.
By working together, we can preserve the character of our downtown while creating a High Street and surrounding downtown core that feels active, cared for and worth discovering.
Free WiFi
The Fresno Police Department is committed to keeping our community safe. Our officers are highly trained and dedicated to providing professional law enforcement services to our residents. We offer a variety of services, including neighborhood watch programs, community outreach, and crime prevention tips. You can also report non-emergency incidents online through our website.
Wayfinding Signage
Your Guide to What’s Here.
The Welcome to Downtown signs are designed to make our downtown easier to discover while showcasing the businesses, services, restaurants and experiences that call it home.
Strategically placed throughout the downtown core, each sign will feature participating businesses and help residents and visitors quickly see what’s nearby and where to find it.
More than a welcome sign, it’s a highly visible, year-round promotion for local businesses—and another way to turn people passing through downtown into people exploring downtown.
See What’s Here. Find Something New. Discover Downtown GFW.
Welcome to High Street Sign
One Sign. Many Local Businesses. One Downtown.
The Welcome to Downtown program brings local businesses together on highly visible streetscape signage designed to showcase the businesses that make Downtown GFW worth visiting.
Inspired by our original Welcome to High Street concept, the signs feature the logos of participating downtown businesses giving restaurants, retailers, professional services, entertainment venues and community organizations a shared presence in the heart of town.
The goal isn’t wayfinding. It’s visibility.
Every person who drives or walks past gets a quick snapshot of just how much is happening downtown—while participating businesses receive ongoing, year-round exposure.
Local businesses. One downtown. Welcome to Downtown GFW.
Downtown Passport
Explore Downtown. Collect Stamps. Win Rewards.
The Downtown GFW Passport turns exploring downtown into an experience. Pick up your passport, visit participating businesses, collect stamps along the way, and earn chances to win local prizes and rewards.
The goal is simple: encourage people to discover businesses they haven’t visited before, explore more of Downtown GFW, and support local while doing it.
Special passport campaigns can run throughout the year for summer, Christmas, festivals and other downtown events giving you another reason to come back and see what’s new.
Visit. Discover. Collect. Win.
Help the Heros
The Help the Heroes program is about bringing Downtown GFW together to support the people who are there when our community needs them most.
Inspired by community fundraising programs such as Firehouse Subs’ charitable initiatives, participating downtown businesses could help raise funds for local firefighters and emergency responders, with donations directed toward equipment, training or other identified community needs.
A visible Help the Heroes recognition wall downtown could celebrate the campaign, recognize participating businesses and donors, and show the community what we can accomplish together.
It’s a simple idea: shop local, give local and support our local heroes.
What’s Happening Downtown
There’s always something happening Downtown.
What’s Happening Downtown brings downtown events, activities, specials and experiences together in one place making it easier to answer one simple question: “What’s happening downtown?”
From live entertainment and community events to restaurant specials, shopping promotions, markets, theatre, seasonal activities and pop-up experiences, Downtown GFW will help spread the word across our website, social media, digital screens and downtown promotional network.
For downtown businesses and organizations, it creates a shared platform to promote what they have happening. For residents and visitors, it creates an easy way to discover another reason to head downtown.
Safety & Security
A welcoming downtown should also be a place where business owners, employees, residents and visitors feel safe and comfortable. The Downtown Safety & Security Program would bring businesses and community partners together to create a more coordinated approach to safety throughout Downtown GFW.
Ideas could include improved exterior lighting, strategically placed security cameras, better visibility around parking areas and walkways, and opportunities for businesses to share information and work together when issues arise.
Rather than every business tackling security on its own, the goal is to build a connected downtown safety network that helps deter vandalism, improves awareness and creates a safer environment for everyone.
A safer downtown is a stronger, more welcoming downtown.
LOVE GFW
LOVE GFW is a shop-local campaign designed to celebrate the businesses, people and experiences that make Grand Falls-Windsor special. The goal is simple: encourage residents to choose local first and discover more of what’s available right here in our community.
Through coordinated promotions, events, social media, contests, business spotlights and recognizable LOVE GFW branding, local businesses can work together to create a stronger message than any one business could create alone.
And LOVE GFW doesn’t have to stop at High Street. It can connect Downtown GFW with businesses throughout Grand Falls-Windsor, encouraging people to shop, eat, explore and support local.
Because every dollar spent locally helps strengthen the businesses, jobs and people that make GFW home.
MAIN STREET REVITALIZATION
Let’s Talk About Main Street
What does Main Street need?
Strengthening Main Street will require a multi-phase plan and cooperation between building owners, business owners and the Town.
Yes, it has challenges, but it also has history, visibility, accessibility and real potential.
A revitalization plan could include:
• Private investment
• Façade improvements
• New businesses and productive uses for vacant buildings
• Targeted tax incentives tied to investment and occupancy
• Enforced property standards so vacant buildings remain safe, secure and presentable
Main Street won’t be transformed by one project or one organization. It will take a coordinated plan and a shared commitment to improving the entire corridor.
What should the first phase of a Main Street revitalization plan include?