Dayton Main Street Program Sets Vision for Old Town

Dayton Main Street (DMS) held its first community meeting on Sunday, Feb. 22 at the Dayton Valley Community Center to outline the goals of this new hyper-local nonprofit, introduce its volunteer board, and gather feedback from attendees about which revitalization projects matter most to Dayton residents and Comstock supporters.

DMS is part of a larger, national network known as Main Street America. This collaborative movement works with thousands of partners and grassroots leaders and “advances shared prosperity, creates resilient economies, and improves quality of life through place-based economic development and community preservation in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts across the country”.

Since its inception in 1980, the Main Street America program has resulted in $115 billion reinvested in local projects; 181,000 new businesses launched; 815,000 new jobs created; 345,000 buildings rehabilitated; and 37 million volunteer hours logged nationwide.

At the state level, Nevada Main Street is housed under the Rural Economic and Community Development Division of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). This division helps guide urban and rural Main Street projects around the state while also assisting communities in identifying grant opportunities and priority projects. In 2024, 16 Nevada communities received nearly $664,000 for improvement projects from the Nevada Main Street Grant Program alone.

“This is some serious, serious stuff going on with Main Street America and we’re going to be a small part of that,” DMS President Dan South told meeting attendees.

DMS recently received an America250 Nevada Gives $1,000 grant to support the first Old Town Dayton Cleanup, scheduled for Sunday, March 22. Volunteers are encouraged to register for the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. cleanup day in advance at tinyurl.com/oldtowncleanup. Registered volunteers will receive necessary tools and supplies, along with a T-shirt and pizza lunch.

For more information about DMS and the March 22 Cleanup, please contact daytonnvmainst@gmail.com, 775-461-9723, or Dayton Main Street on Facebook.

Also connect with DMS’ Comstock partners at the Virginia City Main Street Program.