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EL DORADO, ARKANSAS RECEIVES GREAT AMERICAN MAIN STREET
AWARD
El Dorado, Arkansas, is a 2009 Great American Main Street Awards (GAMSA)
winner. Selected from a nationwide pool of applicants by a national jury
composed of former award winners, community development professionals,
representatives from government foundations, and journalists who are active in
community economic development and historic preservation El Dorado is only the
second community in Arkansas to receive this award and only one of 49
communities to be recognized with a GAMSA.
The GAMSA Awards recognize exceptional accomplishments in revitalizing
America’s historic and traditional Main Street commercial districts and was
presented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation at the opening session
of the National Main Streets Conference in Chicago on March 1, 2009.
"Main Street El Dorado and its volunteers worked hard to bring about
profound, positive transformation in their communities. They are inspirations to
communities throughout the country," said Doug Loescher, director of the
National Trust Main Street Center. "True revitalization happens incrementally
and is sustained over a long period of time, with small improvements leading to
bigger ones."
Today, thousands of residents and downtown workers consider El Dorado, Ark.,
a city of 23,000, to be a shopping, cultural, and entertainment destination.
With its 65+ specialty shops, restaurants, and accommodations, a busy nightlife
and a live music venue that is the envy of the state, it is easy to see why.
This is the town, after all, whose successful downtown caused the demise of its
shopping mall--the only city in Arkansas that can make that claim.
A boomtown in the 1920s, El Dorado fed off its rich oil reserves. This wealth
dried up in the Great Depression and El Dorado faded to a ghost town. Shopping
developments on the outskirts of town in the 1960s and '70s created even greater
economic hardships for the community. By 1979, the downtown's building occupancy
rate was a meager 35 percent.
El Dorado's steady decline made a sharp U-turn when a downtown property owner
attended a revitalization conference held by the statewide Main Street
organization in Arkansas. He returned home with the message that revitalizing El
Dorado's commercial district was possible and in fact, key to the city's
revival. In 1987, Main Street El Dorado was incorporated. Through a unified
effort involving a pre-existing merchant association, a historical foundation,
an improvement district and both private and public financial support, El Dorado
is once again the pride of south Arkansas.
Downtown El Dorado has much to offer Union County residents and tourists
alike. Fourteen National Register structures are located in Historic Downtown El
Dorado, including the Rialto Theater, which was built in 1929. Main Street El
Dorado produces several annual events throughout the year, which attract
thousands. Primary among these is the Bugs, Bands and Bikes festival each May
which features hundreds of pounds of the best crawfish around, a "Battle of the
Bands," a bike show, a motorcycle parade, and a pool tournament.
With all this activity, it is plain to see, as Main Street El Dorado
executive director Mark Givens says, "place matters in El Dorado."
