Vote for paint makeover for downtown Nelson

Nelson chamber executive director Tom Thomson urges you to vote for Nelson's paint makeover.

The chamber applied to be included and we are happy to report that Nelson has been selected as a candidate for Benjamin Moore’s Main Street Matters program. This program is North America-wide, and with dedicated community engagement between now and June 30th, Nelson can be a community that receives a re-paint revitalization of Baker Street.

There will be approximately 100 towns across North America in the initial challenge. If Nelson can wind up in the top 20, we will ultimately receive this uplifting colour paint makeover in the year ahead.

Benjamin Moore will partner with the selected towns and neighbourhoods to refresh up to three blocks of Nelson's downtown, a part of which could include the CP Station at the foot of Baker Street.

The CP Station has been prepped for paint in the past year. The JCP crews that have been on hand have hand scraped the building of all of the old paint with an eye to salvaging as much of the original siding as possible. This was an extremely onerous task, but the building is prepped for paint for a future construction phase.

This will take a dedicated effort on the community's behalf, similar to the effort that Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism poured into the Best Ski Town Throw Down this winter. You all did a great job of getting friends and family to commit to those votes. Vote daily until June 30th at paintwhatmatters.ca.

Send it along to your friends, use your social media contacts and keep the messaging going.

This project is extremely timely as the City of Nelson begins to implement the preliminary aspects of the Downtown Waterfront Master Plan.

When you look at the number of buildings in the downtown core that have been spruced up with paint over the past several years, including Gerick's, Reo’s, The Medical Associates Clinic, Nelson Chrysler, New Grand Hotel, Finley's, the Civic Centre, Hipperson’s, Berg Lehman and of course the Hume, it shows the value of what a fresh coat of paint can do to improve the appearance of a building, and in turn the feel of the  that part of town. Let’s all pitch in and make this opportunity a reality for downtown Nelson.