Our Mission

“To coordinate and lead public and private actions to redevelop the Mousam Waterfront, Sanford Downtown and the historic mills area into a thriving, energetic, commercial, social, cultural, residential and entertainment destination through concentrated efforts of organization, design, promotion, economic restructuring and historic preservation.” Adopted April 10, 2007

 Our Vision

The Vision of Sanford Downtown Legacy is to bring the vitality back to downtown Sanford.

·        Events bring people to the downtown that creates a sense of community.

·        A variety of shopping, entertainment and attractions to entice travelers to stop and enjoy our community and learn about our history from the friendly people in the city we call home.

·        Employment opportunities from the redevelopment in the mill area and new business along Main Street . These positions in professional, healthcare, technology, retail and other fields will provide jobs with fair wages,

·        Single and family friendly neighborhoods will benefit from the day to day needs of nearby shopping, recreation, services and other residents.

·        Beautification efforts will attract more developers, which will create more jobs, more families will come to Sanford, more will enjoy the events and the circle continues.

Sanford Downtown Legacy Board of Directors

Maura Herlihy, chair, co-owner of TownHouse Properties, President of BOD

Lynn MacCannell, Owner, Stonefield Farms, chair of Promotions Committee

Brad Littlefield, City Councilor, chair of Economic Restructuring Committee

Thea Murphy, director of Trafton Senior Center and downtown resident

David Joy, co-owner of Joy & Hamilton Architects

Ron Vincent, owner of Bioscientific

Nathan Shaw, Shaw's Hardware

Matthew Bertrand, Bergeron's Shoes

Stephanie Wilkins, kitchen sales at Roux's Kitchen and Bath, chair of the Organization Committee

Matt Treadwell, ER committee

Jay VanTassell, Lincoln Press, ER committee

Cathy Sevigny, City of Sanford town clerks office

Debi Libby

Connie Garber-Transportation Director, YCCA

 Executive Director

Fran Libbey

A Main Street Community

Sanford Downtown Legacy is following the “Main Street” model of downtown revitalization developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and adopted by more than 2,000 communities nationwide. The model is ideally suited to older communities with historic downtowns and works incrementally, rather than through a big-bucks, wholesale approach. Key is focusing on four elements simultaneously. A successful downtown is attractive, highly visible, well-managed and a reinvented for modern times. Each element is pursued by a separate committee:

Committees

Design Committee (“A successful downtown is attractive”)
The committee spearheads:

• Overall design standards
• Education about the importance of good design
• Collaboration with downtown property owners to upgrade building appearance
• Public investments to upgrade streetscape

Committee members:
John Hutchins chairman, David Joy
James Gulnac, Ron Vincent, Craig Burgess
JoAnn Cavanaugh, Lee Burnett,Phil Hesketh
Tarad Nadeau

Promotions Committee (“A successful downtown is highly visible”)
The committee spearheads:

• Development of publicity, website and newsletter
• Coordination of events and retail promotions
• Creation of image campaigns

Committee members:
Lynn MacCannell, chair

Mary Blood, Marcel Blouin, Karen Staples,

Richard & Cecile Tuttle,Matthew Bertrand
 

Economic Restructuring Committee (“A successful downtown is reinvented”)
The committee spearheads:

• Strengthening existing businesses and recruiting new ones
• Understanding existing conditions
• Identifying new niches and market opportunities
• Developing incentive programs and capital for building rehabilitation and business development
• Monitoring overall condition of the downtown

Committee members:
Brad Littlefield, chair

Nathan Shaw,Thea Murphy, Matt Treadwell, Jay VanTassell, Bill Underwood, Sharon Peralta, Ed Cormier

Organization Committee (“A successful downtown is well managed”)
The committee spearheads:

• Fundraising
• Organizational development
• Recruitment and management of volunteers.
• Financial management of the entire organization

Committee members:
Stephanie Wilkins, chair