City to take over Eureka Main Street and Visitor Center

Last evening, on Tuesday, June 22 at 5:00 p.m., the City of Eureka hosted a virtual meeting to share a draft economic development strategic plan update, answer questions, and seek public input. 

A recording of the meeting is now available on the City website, along with the draft document.  All citizens and community stakeholders are encouraged to provide feedback via email through July 10th.  

Alongside these planning efforts, the City of Eureka is also working to reconfigure two meaningful local partnerships. To ensure streamlined deployment of all business support services under the updated Economic Development Strategic Plan, partnerships with Eureka Main Street and Humboldt Made are being reconfigured to better support evolving citizen and organizational needs. 

Pending the upcoming retirement of Charlotte McDonald, a long-standing community leader who has led Eureka Main Street (EMS) for 25 years, the City of Eureka's Office of Economic Development will soon partner with the Eureka Main Street Board to take over the day-to-day administration and programming operations of Eureka Main Street.  

Eureka Main Street has been serving the community since 1983, when the Eureka Business Improvement District was first formally recognized, and it has been officially operating under the name Eureka Main Street since 1992. The organization’s mission and focus will both stay fully intact. City of Eureka staff will now work closely with the existing Eureka Main Street Board of Directors to identify, support, and respond to the unique needs of the businesses in this specially designated geography. This change is taking effect July 1, 2021, and corresponds with the start of the next government fiscal year.  

"It has been an honor to serve as Executive Director of Eureka Main Street for so many memorable years," Charlotte McDonald said. "While I am excited to enter this next life phase, I am also deeply pleased that our Main Street businesses will be in such good hands moving forward. Our dedicated board and our City's talented and passionate economic development staff all share a commitment to serving the important needs of this special business district. I look forward to both watching and participating in their continued efforts moving forward. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of this very special community and, while I will be retiring, I won't be going anywhere. Eureka is home."  

Additionally, on July 1, 2021, the City of Eureka Office of Economic Development will also begin to directly manage the operations of the Eureka Visitor Center inside the Clarke Historical Museum. 

Humboldt Made, the organization that currently operates the Eureka Visitor Center, will continue to partner with the City to support economic development but will shift their focus and lend their talents to several new initiatives that better align with their organizational goals and future direction.  As the first in a series of planned new projects, Humboldt Made will receive city funding to provide a week-long intensive marketing and distribution workshop for City of Eureka-based artisans, makers, and business owners next spring.  

"I'm looking forward to these planned adjustments to our partnership," Alanna Powell, Executive Director of Humboldt Made, said. "Like many organizations, we've used the last 18 months to restructure, focus, and assemble an impressive team of local creatives, strategists, and marketers to serve not only our membership but also the greater community. It's been a challenging year for everyone. We're thankful that the City has been open to helping us position to better provide much-needed support for our artists, businesses, and community during this critically important time. We are proud of the services we provided to those traveling to our area in the last three years and look forward to passing the torch into the capable hands of City staff. Eureka is experiencing a revival. We look forward to continuing to support and play a role in that progress in ways that are more in line with our organization's core mission."  "Our economic development team has been working hard and is bringing clear focus on meeting the goals of our citizens," 

City Manager Miles Slattery said. "I want to encourage everyone to provide feedback. There is a lot of important momentum building regarding Economic Development in Eureka.”