$350,000 Grant Gives Creighton A Facelift

Eleven months after being awarded the Downtown Revitalization Grant, the City of Creighton is keeping busy as business throughout the community continue to improve.

In March of 2017, Creighton was awarded $350,000 to contribute to the revitalization. From cement work to new awnings, the downtown has seen a bit of a facelift.

Economic Development Director Kylee Wilmes said that the community has really worked together to brighten up the town. Teaming up with Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District in Norfolk, Wilmes was taken by surprise when told that Creighton had the most amount of businesses to apply for the grant, totaling at about 30 applicants.

Each applicant was given the opportunity to improve their business with requests for cement work, facade changes, new awnings, signs, and so much more.

Businesses participating in the revitalization are AME Door Systems, A Special Place, Big REd Bottle Shop, Brockhaus Funeral Home, Bulldog Sports Lounge, Burns Lumber Co., C-Mart, Creighton Auto, Creighton Locker, Farniks Shoe, Flower Basket, Gragerts Grocery, Grand Central Cafe, Hair Expressions, Hair Studio, Hammer Insurance, Jerry’s Bare and Lanes, Laflan Storage, Marshall Law, Morrill Plumbing, Rader Feed and Supply, Renates, Salmen Hardware, Scott Fuchtman, TC Auto Repair, T & M Fireworks, The Beauty Shoppe, Waltons Electronics, and Wendy Ripp Photography.

The city plans to open back up applicants during the month of February as they still have money leftover from the grant. Hoping for more applicants, Wilmes and the rest of the city looks forward to seeing more improvements.

Wilmes said, “Every business in their own has seen a dramatic change from what it was before. And that is great to go outside and see those dramatic changes. Especially, I mean I’ve lived here my whole life, and a lot of the businesses have been the same for 50 plus years. So, it’s nice to see just even those little changes. It’s just great.”