On Monday, May 21st, at 5pm, there will be an open meeting held at the Old Red Mill to discuss the possibility of a Downtown Designation for Wilmington. Susan MacMahon, associate director of Windham Regional Commission, will provide an overview of the application process, as well as a summary of the benefits of a Downtown Designation. Susan will be joined by Leanne Tingay, Program Coordinator, for the Vermont Downtown Program.

As a part of the Long Term Community Recovery plan, the Historic Village group chose to pursue the opportunity to achieve a Downtown Designation and to use this designation as the basis for developing a comprehensive revitalization strategy for the downtown district. While the Selectboard favors the possibility of a Downtown Designation, it was agreed that the first step should be to hold a public meeting to review the process and the benefits.

The Historic Village group hopes that there will be a large turnout for this very important meeting. Among other benefits, this Downtown Designation provides Wilmington with certain advantages in terms of obtaining grants and loans for downtown development.

Business owners as well as residents are encouraged to attend the meeting, which is expected to run from 5pm to 7pm.