Rehoboth Beach wins GAMSA- Great American Main Street Award

National Trust Main Street Center  Honors Rehoboth Beach with a Great American Main Street Award

Rehoboth Beach demonstrates effectiveness in creating a vibrant and sustainable historic commercial district
The National Trust Main Streets Center presented Rehoboth Beach Main Street Inc. of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with one of the five 2009 Great American Main Street Awards (GAMSA) during its annual National Main Streets Conference in Chicago on March 2.

Rehoboth Beach Main Street Inc. has been working in partnership with the state of Delaware, local residents, property owners, the business community, and others in the city to spur reinvestment, support historic preservation, and grow the local economy by keeping local businesses busy throughout the year-not just during the summer tourism season.

According to the Main Street Center the GAMSA Awards recognize exceptional accomplishments in revitalizing America's historic and traditional Main Street commercial districts. Since the organization's inception in 1996, Rehoboth Beach Main Street (RBMS) has attracted new businesses, spurred the rehabilitation of 56 historic facades; and assisted the City with tourism marketing. The storefront vacancy rate of the seven-block district has dropped 7 percent and Rehoboth Beach Main Street stepped up an aggressive marketing campaign to help almost all district businesses survive a recent $33 million, four-year street improvement project.

The National Center notes "RBMS coordinates with local residents, business owners, and nonprofits to celebrate the diversity of the community, which includes a large gay and lesbian population, to make downtown a "place for all," which is the literal meaning of the word "Rehoboth."

"Rehoboth Beach Main Street proves that vacation destinations can be as exciting during the off season as they are during the high-tourist season and that cash registers can ring and hotels can be filled for 12 months a year," said Doug Loescher, the director of the National Trust Main Street Center. "Incentives like sign and building improvement grants have contributed to Rehoboth Beach's small-town charm, preserved its seaside heritage, and enhanced the special sense of place that residents and tourists cherish."