Christie Administration Announces Town of Hammonton a Semifinalist
for One of the Great Main Streets in America

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III today announced that Hammonton in Atlantic County has been selected as one of eight semi-finalists for the Great American Main Street Award® by the National Main Street Center. MainStreet Hammonton, DCA’s designated local Main Street New Jersey program, applied for the award and competed against communities throughout the entire United States.

Three of the semi-finalists will be selected as finalists. Formal recognition and award presentation will take place at the National Main Streets Conference, which will be held in April of this year in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“The DCA has provided significant and ongoing technical assistance and training to both the MainStreet Hammonton organization and to business and property owners in its designated Main Street® district over the last 19 years,” said DCA Commissioner Constable. “Our Main Street New Jersey program supported MainStreet Hammonton during every step of the application process, and we will continue to assist them into their bright future.”

“The private and public stakeholders in Hammonton, and in particular the extremely dedicated leaders and volunteers of MainStreet Hammonton have worked against significant odds to make their small downtown one of the best in America,” said Main Street New Jersey State Coordinator Jef Buehler. “MainStreet Hammonton has always taken full advantage of the services Main Street New Jersey offers, and they have leveraged those benefits with their own local investment of talent and funding to create a successful 21st Century downtown.”

Each year the National Trust Main Street Center recognizes exceptional Main Street® communities whose successes serve as a model for comprehensive, preservation-based commercial district revitalization.

The 2013 Great American Main Street Award® semi-finalists are:

  • Bastrop, Texas
  • Beaufort, South Carolina
  • Bedford, Pennsylvania
  • Bristol, Tennessee
  • Charleston East End, West Virginia
  • Hammonton, New Jersey
  • Harrisonburg, Virginia           
  • Rochester, Michigan

These award-winning communities demonstrate exemplary achievement in the process of strengthening their downtowns and commercial districts based on the following selection criteria:

  • Active involvement of the public and private sectors;
  • Broad-based community support for the revitalization effort;
  • Quality of achievements over time;
  • Innovative solutions to significant problems;
  • Commitment to historic preservation;
  • Evolving track record of successful commercial district revitalization;        
  • Comprehensive revitalization effort: activity in all four points of the Main Street Four Point Approach® to commercial district revitalization;
  • Economic impact of the revitalization program; and
  • Successful small business development.

MainStreet Hammonton, with the collaboration of Main Street New Jersey, has worked to manage and revitalize Hammonton’s historic downtown since 1993. For more information on the Main Street New Jersey program, log on to www.mainstreetnewjersey.com.