(Upon its completion, the privately funded archway on Main Street was given to the City of Prineville | Photo courtesy of Bryan Iverson)
Bryan Iverson, in looking back at his decision to help “preserve and develop the quality and economic stability of downtown Prineville,” has a straight-forward explanation.
“Becoming a business owner on Fourth Street, and therefore vested in the downtown area, was the impetus for me to ask “what’s going to make this better?” he recalled.
“But rather than just talking about possible improvements, a group of like-minded people — including my wife, my business partner, and the director of the Chamber — decided that ‘someone has to own this, and championed the effort from there.” Hence the Prineville Downtown Association, originally founded in 1868, was re-established in 2019.
According to Iverson, owner and chief strategist of the Iverson Group, “we realized from the start that although our members cared about the downtown, we had to do something that would shock the community to make them care as well. So we started by designing, fabricating, and putting up an archway on Main Street between Third and Fourth — all with private funding — and then gave it to the City of Prineville.”
“This gesture made it clear that the Downtown Association was already doing something substantial, and also showed that we weren’t in it for ourselves — but rather were working for the benefit of the entire community.”
Subsequently, “just as we had hoped, more and more property owners joined in,” Iverson said. “And to take advantage of more grant opportunities, the Downtown Association moved into a 501(c)3 — which is for charitable organizations from a 501(c)6, a business membership category. (We’ve used grant money to fund most of our projects, but the 501c3 classification will allow us to build out this source.)”
He explained that “our focus has always been on infrastructure, as opposed to beautification (which is an easier way to start). One example is sidewalk lighting/walkability along Fourth Street so people have the ability to park with a lighted walkway leading to downtown destinations such as restaurants. This is a particularly important consideration between October and March when darkness comes earlier. Looking ahead to the prospect of having trees along the sidewalk, we also put water lines under the light poles.”
Other examples of Downtown Association projects include making free WiFi accessible for the area encompassing the library, the downtown core and the fairgrounds — in partnership with Facebook; and “re-doing the downtown sidewalks, block by block. We’re also aiming to earmark both sides of the road leading into Prineville, just as the archway does at one end,” Iverson said.
In addition, the Downtown Association played a role in supporting state efforts to secure state funding build a new courthouse (while saving the previous 112-year-old building), and to extend funding for the Bowman Museum.
“The City of Prineville has always been super helpful,” Iverson emphasized, “and can see our successes without having to carry the load.”
He added that “members of the Downtown Association spend a lot of time ‘overtalking,’ as I like to say, in promoting our ideas before local groups and making sure that everyone’s on board. By no means do our efforts take place without the community’s endorsement. Together, we’re working to make Prineville even better!”
