In the spring of 2018, the Lincoln County Economic Development Foundation invited businesses and organizations in the downtown districts of the Lincoln, Sylvan Grove, Barnard and Beverly communities to apply to the Downtown Design Assistance Program. Attractive and well-maintained storefronts and buildings are critical to the survival of small town businesses. Property owners often defer maintenance on their buildings due to not having enough time, money or knowledge to deal with the problems.
Through a competitive application process, eight businesses were selected to work with two summer interns, an architecture student from the University of Kansas, Miki Blair, and an interior design student from Kansas State University, Bethany Pingel. The The Dane G. Hansen Foundation & K-State Research and Extension Community Vitality organizations provided this opportunity for internships.
Interns Blair and Pingel worked together to give advice and recommendations to the business or organization owners in regards to each specific building. In addition, the Lincoln County Economic Development Foundation offered a grant up to $5,000, to be matched by the owner, to help the recommendations and designs to be executed.
At the end of the summer, the public was invited to share in the ideas and positivity of the designs created and how these eight businesses might be transformed.
Resulting plans for the eight Downtown Design Assistance Program projects following the 2018 Summer Internship:
- Lincoln City Hall
- Lincoln Senior Center
- Lincoln Center Antiques & Collectibles
- Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce
- Labertew Apiaries
- J&R Feeds
- Sylvan Senior Center
- Sylvan Grove Public Library
Continuing news of Downtown Design Assistance Program projects in progress:
Downtown Design Assistance Program (round #2) – summer of 2020
With historic designations for both downtown Lincoln and downtown Sylvan Grove in process, the LCEDF plans to again hire a summer intern(s) to work with property and business owners to develop improvement plans for downtown storefronts and public building, with a focus on maintaining the historical aspects of the limestone buildings.
