Editor, The Herald:

On June 16, 2011 the Town of Farmville submitted an application to be considered as one of four new communities admitted to the Virginia Main Street Program. Across Virginia, the Main Street program has an outstanding track record of assisting in the creation and sustainability of a vigorous and vibrant downtown area.

We write to extend our congratulations and a sincere thank you to all involved in the application process. The time to pull the lengthy application together was very short and a large number of people pitched in to get it done. We want to offer particular thanks to the Town Council and Town Manager Gerry Spates for their support and to Town Planner Cindy Morris for her tireless work on the document.

A viable Main Street application requires concrete financial support from the local municipalities and from the community as a whole. In a period of under two weeks, the members of Downtown Farmville were able to secure pledges for cash and gifts-in-kind of more than $60,000! What a testament to the love Farmville has for its downtown. Due to the extremely short time-frame to complete the application, we were not able to contact many people who we feel sure would love to be involved. For those folks, there will be opportunities in the coming months to show their support.

The generous individuals and businesses who wrote letters pledging financial support include Amish Originals, Buffalo Creek Guitar Company, Caryn's Bridals, Centra Southside Community Hospital, Citizen's Bank & Trust Co., Farmville Herald, Harlan L. Horton PC, Honeycutt and McGuire PC, J. Fergeson Gallery, Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Longwood Small Business Development Center, Moton Museum, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Pairet's, Prince Edward County, Real Living Cornerstone, Chuck Ross, Sleeping Bee, Mel Smith, Rucker Snead, Sally Thompson, Lacy Ward, Hunter Watson, Bob Winthrop, The Woodland, Yoder Properties.

There is obviously a large core of active and engaged people who care about our downtown. This Main Street application, if successful, will be a huge step forward for our community. If the application falls short, Farmville will still secure Main Street affiliate status. This status provides access to many program resources and also positions a municipality for successful application in the future. In any case, thanks again for an impressive display of collective citizenship in action!

Jimmy Johnson, Chairman

Chuck Ross, Vice-Chairman

Downtown Farmville