Applications sought for facade work here

The Sparta Revitalization Committee is currently beginning to seek applicants for the Sparta Main Street revitalization facade improvement grant.

The committee's president, Sandy Rost, said that completed applications must be received by the committee on or before Jan. 31, 2004.

Committee members say that their goal is to build on the small town "feel" by helping downtown businesses with improvements in their building facades or exteriors.

The Sparta Main Street Beautification Grant is a 50-50 matching grant program provided by the Sparta Town Council and coordinated by the Revitalization Committee to assist in the beautification of Main Street commercial buildings and the addition of increased sidewalk appeal.

"It's wonderful, and it can help merchants or business owners do what they want with their buildings," Rost said. "We help them with this matching-funds grant." The money that the committee contributes, she explained, is not the committee's money, but rather money that has been made available from the town of Sparta.

She said that examples of improvements that merchants or business owners could make to their buildings might include painting, replacing bricks or putting in new windows or new doors.

Examples of past improvements cited by Rost include Chris Davis' School of Interior Decorative Arts, which is a division of Studio Redwood and is located on North Main Street in Sparta (at the intersection of U.S. 21 and N.C. 18), as well as the awnings that George Sheets has added to Alleghany Cablevision and Seasons Gifts, both also located on North Main Street.

"We want to restore the buildings as much as we can, but we also want to keep our own little Main Street feel," Rost noted.

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