St. John main street falls short in national contest

St. John’s bid for the grand prize in the Independent We Stand America’s Main Street Contest fell short when the winner was announced as DeLand, Fla. If St. John had won, the town would have received $25,000 for its main street, among other prizes.

“It’s tough to hear; it’s super tough to hear,” said Amanda Webb, one of the organizers behind the contest entry.

St. John entered the contest one month after it already started and competed against 241 other communities in the voting to make it to the top 25. With a population of just more than 545, St. John was one of the smallest communities in the contest, and a month behind the competition, it was uncertain if St. John would make it past the first round.

When St. John did make it to the top 25, the next hurdle was to make it into the top 10. Voting resumed, and St. John was the smallest community remaining. The next smallest community had a population four times that of St. John’s, yet the voting prevailed again, and the town made it to the top 10. The top 10 entrants were then taken to a panel of judges who decided the grand prize winner and ultimately chose DeLand, Fla.

“A lot of people are sad,” said Webb. “I don’t think we should be sad. I think we should be really proud that we competed with that.”

Jessiann Loomis, another organizer behind the entry, said there are a lot of positive takeaways from the contest.

“That was a bummer that we didn’t make it, but I’m super impressed that we made it as far as we did,” she said. “We did really good. I was really amazed we made it as far as we did.”

Loomis said another good takeaway was the conversations that started as a result of the contest.

“Once we started doing this, people starting asking things like what does our main street need? What are some easy things we can do to spruce it up?” she said.

Webb expressed the same sentiment.

“I think we’re on a great path,” she said. “Ideas are flowing, people are talking. It’s all really positive.”

Webb also said this is not the end of the road for St. John.

“Maybe there’s more contests out there,” she said, adding, “We’ll try again next year, too.”

Loomis said one thing that may have hurt St. John in the contest was last year’s winner, which was Lynden, Wash.

“That’s great for Lynden, but we were a little sad when we found that out because this contest has only been going for two years,” said Loomis. “To have two Washington towns in a row would probably not have been the best plan for them.”

While St. John did not ultimately win, Loomis expressed gratitude for the support behind the contest.

“Thank you to everybody who did support us and who was consistently voting,” she said.

Webb also expressed her gratitude.

“I’m so proud of us and just so grateful for everyone who got behind us.”