Last weekend, volunteers painted the old city hall building and a downtown restaurant in Sweet Home, about 30 miles east of Corvallis. Like many small towns in the Northwest, Sweet Home has been struggling to bounce back from the loss of timber mills, and recent COVID closures didn’t help. City leaders hope the fresh coats of paint could be one step towards revitalizing the downtown and convincing people who are just passing through to stop for a while.
“Multiple businesses have shut down, and now those businesses are sitting vacant,” City Manager Kelcey Young said.”The property owners, while they have been working on trying to improve those buildings and trying to bring in businesses, a lot of our businesses aren’t lasting.”
A volunteer paints a building in downtown Sweet Home, Oregon.
Kelcey Young
Young reached out to Miller Paint company, which agreed to provide the paint for free, and organized groups of community volunteers to do some of the painting. She said it wasn’t hard to get property owners on board.
“We have a lot of businesses that are really excited about getting that fresh look. We have property owners that are now helping to collaborate with us,” Young said. “It’s sort of another moment of hope for our town.”
Over 100 volunteers — including 20 youth volunteers from the Corvallis National Youth Corps and multiple Sweet Home city council members — helped with the paint job. Young says bringing the community together was as much a part of this project as the paint itself.
Volunteers paint a restaurant in downtown Sweet Home, Oregon
Kelcey Young
“How can we embrace our community? How can we lift it up,” she said, “And how can we collaborate together, in order to do something that not only makes our downtown look better but also brings us together as a community?”
Next year there are plans to paint murals on downtown businesses and to turn the old City Hall building, which has mostly been used for storage, into a business incubator and makers’ space.
Volunteers paint a building in downtown Sweet Home, Oregon.
Kelcey Young
“We’d like to open this space up to budding artists and craftsmen, as well as those that are starting to create businesses, as a place for them to start their businesses, start working on bringing in community,” Young said. “It is a beautiful art deco building that, with just a little bit of love, we could open up for receptions as well.”
Kelcey Young spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation: